


For Which I Have To Howl

by orphan_account



Category: Professional Wrestling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-23
Updated: 2015-11-20
Packaged: 2018-02-05 23:27:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 55,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1836094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Werewolves exist. They are not the creatures of classic horror films, they are not a Halloween costume. They roam around us, hidden in plain view, trying to live, trying to love, just like anyone else. And Dean Ambrose is one of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is my baby, please be gentle with it.

She had grown up hearing the warnings, to "fear those type of men who would reach inside you and feast upon your heart." Her mother had meant it as metaphor, to pay heed to those men around her who would use her kindness against her, who would kiss her with lips chapped by promise and fallacy. She had never meant the literal; the type of man who could break through skin and sternum and feast upon blood and flesh. This was never a thing to worry about, it was only the tales of nightmare, of horror film, of Halloween costumes.

Nothing could have been farther from the truth.

She had found this man, or rather, he had found her. His appearance had been innocuous enough; sand-colored curls haphazardly strewn about his head, a chiseled jawline, eyes that were blue-green-gray, and a disarming smile, complete with a hint of dimple. He gave the appearance of the guy your friends could drink with, but could also clean up and be the charming young man your grandmother always wanted you to be with.

He was also a monster. Literally. She had seen his strength the night he found her, she had seen him threaten to rip her attacker limb from limb, tossing him across the alley as if he were a mere plaything, and the way his voice had sounded, much more rough and visceral than the slight rasp he had when he had greeted her in the bar earlier that evening. He had saved her, and in turn, she couldn't escape the knowledge that the real world was not as mundane as many would hope to believe. The supernatural existed, and she ended up falling in love with one of its kind. This was no longer the territory relegated to Lon Cheney, werewolves existed, and one of them was named Dean Ambrose.

* * *

She had fallen into the flow of this new lifestyle, living more towards the country than she would have initially liked. This was their "vacation" home, as she let others believe. For the majority of the month, they'd live in the apartment in the city, but they would plan a weekend getaway, so to speak. They all coincided with the fullness of the moon; it didn't always land on a weekend, and when it was the middle of the week, that's when it was the worst, but he tried to hold off for her.

He had gone out for a quick run, but she knew that could mean hours if he decided to hunt, or if he just played around like a giant puppy, releasing the tension of human form, even for just a small amount. She had grown to love the sight of the clear night sky, the moonlight glinting through her window, the cool night breeze, and the distant sound of howling.

She also grew to know what would come afterwards. After the painful reformation of skeleton and psyche, the return from the wolf to the man, while one hunger had been sated, another would crawl its way forth. The wolf would only be hiding, but its power still exerted itself, and she would find herself become prey.

The first night it had happened, he had tried to warn her, coaching her through it, apologizing when he would eventually lose his focus, lose his control, and let the animal take over. She knew better now, knew how to take it, knew how to allow that instinct to roll over her, envelop her, and when she heard a howl in the distance, she instinctually found her body responding in kind, wetness growing between her legs.

She had made sure to not wear any perfumes, because all he wanted was to smell her when he'd make his way through the door. He would smell of pine trees, of sweat, and in some instances, she'd get the copper tang of blood. She also had started stripping, having gotten down to just her bra and panties. She was prepared; she was ready.

She heard another howl, closer this time, and she couldn't help herself. It wasn't the howl itself, but the understanding behind it, but either way her hand had found its way south, and she felt for herself just how slick she had become, soaking through her panties.

"What are you doing."

She looked up, and he closed the door behind him, wearing nothing but jeans slung low upon his hips. He's covered in sweat, his hair falling in his face, and voice still broken from the shift.

She moved her hand away, and one moment he's across the room, the next he's on his knees, his face inches away from where she was warm and wet. He took a deep breath, rubbing his cheek into her thigh, and moans to himself. "I could smell you from outside you know. You always smell so fucking good, you don't understand, baby…" He nips at her leg, and she bit her lip at the feeling. This was always the best part.

His fingers hook into the top of her panties and slip them off of her legs, tossing them behind him as he lunged forward, grabbing her legs and pulling her closer to him, burrowing his face between her thighs. He lacked finesse, not for lack of trying; he is feasting upon her, there is no skill in devouring a person. He is drinking her down, nipping at her lips, making slight suction against her clit, digging nails deeply into her ass. She heard him growl, losing himself in the feel of his tongue inside her, and she felt herself follow down into the pleasure of him attacking her with his mouth.

It takes only a few more licks against her to have her come hard, bucking against his face, crying out and clawing at the bed. He brings his head up, mouth still wet from her, his eyes having returned to the gold of the wolf.

"On your hands and knees."

She nods, turning herself over on uneven legs and shaking arms, hearing the soft thump of clothing hit the floor. She feels the warmth of his body before she can actually feel him against her, that unnatural heat radiating off of him, keeping her warm in the nights that are getting ever colder. He fumbles with the back of her bra, and before she can offer to take it off, she feels it torn off.  _There goes another one in the trash_.

She feels him hard against her, rubbing against her ass, and then he's shifting position, sliding his way inside her with one hard thrust. He wraps her hair around his hand loosely, the other finding safety along her hip bone, and begins thrusting into her, hard and fast and deep. She knows that the softer sex will be later, when he's calmed down and become more human, but for now she can't help but gasp out broken moans as he takes her roughly. She makes a request, the same one that she asks every time and had been turned down for every time: to have him bite her when he comes. She knows it's not a matter of him fearing turning her, she's asked and it doesn't work like that, not like this. She knows that it's his fear of hurting her, but it's all she needs to make this complete.

She's shocked when he says yes.

He moves his hand away from her hair, instead choosing to wrap his arm around her chest, hand scratching roughly against her shoulder, the other arm snaking its away around her waist. He's pulling her onto him, burying himself inside her with every thrust, and all she can feel is the warmth of his body against her back, across her chest, and deep within her. It's as if anything she had found mundane in her life was being burned away, the more he was inside of her, the more changed she had become. With the way that he's pulling her onto him, steadily losing rhythm, and the way that he's grunting, she knows what's coming. That final thrust, the hard bite against her neck…

She falls over that edge for the second time that night, and then there are teeth against the crook of her neck, biting down hard, breaking skin. His mouth breaks away, nearly howling as he shoots inside her, just as hot as his skin. She feels his hands gripping at her hips, nails digging in deeply, and he holds her in place, as he whimpers out the aftershocks. She feels a trickle of some warmth against her neck, and she remembers that the bite broke skin. She knows she's bleeding, but it's nothing nearly enough to be worrisome.

His head rests against the back of her neck, breathing heavily, when he picks up the smell of blood. He very gently licks at the wound of his own creation, still unable to form words. The whimper he makes is all she needs; she knows that he's apologizing. He pulls out of her slowly, and lies down, still holding onto her, making her lay down too. He curls up against her, wrapping an arm around her waist. She knows she should probably take a shower, she is probably covered in more bodily fluids than is sanitary, but his happy humming against her body, the warmth of his skin, and the exhaustion of what happened hits her, and she instead falls asleep in his arms.


	2. Chapter 2

He woke up, cold, naked, and curled up around her. Cold for him was comfortable for all of those around him, but when your body temperature runs higher than normal, you tend to look at everything as colder than yourself. He felt her breathing, even and deep, and felt the impact of everything hit his bones at once. He still felt the moon and its tides crashing against his mind, each wave washing away the anxieties, felt the tremor of its glow vibrating under his skin. Like all hungers, what was sated would not last; he'd need to go through all of this again. But for now, he was so tired, and so sore, and a hot shower seemed like the best idea.

He pulled away slowly, feeling the stiffness in his joints, gently making his way off of the bed as to not disturb her sleep. He padded his way across the bedroom, creeping into the bathroom, closing the door behind him with a nearly silent click. Before making his way to the shower, he caught his reflection in the mirror. He could see the bags under his eyes, from the nights approaching this weekend, where he fought against his primal side teasing him, tempting him, that one night early wouldn't hurt, that it would be ok if he just went for a quick run. He saw the golden stubble on his face, which seemed to laugh in the face of a razor around this time. His eyes were some murky darkness, stuck between the range of his regular colors, and the honeyed amber of the wolf. He was a wreck; hair still damp from sweat, askew on his head in thin tendrils, the taste of her blood and her wetness still on his lips.

If he focused any more on that, he'd have a bigger problem on his hands than sore muscles.

He felt his brain start to go fuzzy again, and tore his eyes away from the mirror. He moved towards the shower, turning the faucet knobs to make a hot blast of water, steam forming quickly in the room. He stepped under, the instant sting of the water a welcome distraction from the low, consistent buzz in his brain that accompanied the full moon. He just stood there for a few moments, letting the heat both scald his skin and work at the knots in his shoulders. Sure, shifting back into human form was painful, there was no getting used to that, no matter how long it's been since your first shift, but he wished that his muscles at least could reform without those damn knots in them. As if he wasn't in enough pain as is.

The heat of the water was still a nice distraction, letting him worry about mundane things for once, and not the fear of hurting her; his brain always worked its way back to it. It was part of his nature to hurt, to destroy, to devour. He was a hunter, not born but  _created_  as such, and he had adapted to this new role in his life with ease. You sort of had to when you were turned so young. In order to survive, he had to learn to fight, and to win. When the thought of a fight, even a playful one with his brothers, would arrive, he'd instantly become the young scrapper he was back in Cincinnati, face and clothes covered in blood, with a grin guided by madness plastered on his face.

But now? Now…now he fought to keep up his strength, for the moments he'd pray to never happen, if he were a praying man. He needed to protect her; he felt it was his duty, despite her protestations that "I don't need you to protect me like I'm some fragile thing." Compared to him, she  _was_  fragile. She could simply fall into dust in his hands if he even slipped up once, body crumbling in on itself like a dried flower. How could he  _not_  keep protecting her, especially how he had found her?

It had been about two years ago, a warm evening in the Indian Summer that seemed to plague the East Coast every now and then. He had been travelling to visit a long lost friend, which had ended up in a night out on the town, "for old times sake." A different city, and yet they were still in their comfort zone: food, beer, and belligerence of the best kind. He had stayed by the bar while his friend had found some tail to chase, and he decided to let his senses sharpen again, just to see what he could feel. He usually kept to either the Midwest or the West Coast, the East was too volatile, between the hurricanes of the mid-Atlantic and the blizzards of the Northeast, but here he was, watching the trees turn their famed autumn shades, smelling the last barbecues fade into smoke, all mixed with the city smells of exhaust, alcohol, sweat, and that low thrumming tension that kept everything running. There was a definite taste to the air on the East that couldn't be replicated nor described if you didn't have those senses. It was a tragedy to think of its inhabitants, ignorant of their own surroundings.

He took a deep breath in, letting his lungs get the fill of that strange, foreign Northeast air, since he otherwise avoided it like the plague. As he let it out, raising his glass to his lips, he saw  _her_. She was sitting alone, looking at her phone on and off, each time with more irritation, eyebrows furrowed together as she would flip through some app he couldn't see. Her drink had sat nearly untouched, the glass starting to sweat down towards the coaster on the bar. He placed his drink down, the alcohol untouched, and watched her, becoming in this moment more wolf than man, making sure he'd remain unnoticed.

It wasn't for any devious reasons, he just honestly was curious about her, and he needed something more than a glass of bourbon to keep him occupied. As he looked towards the door, and back towards the person of his interest, he noticed some stereotypical bro trying to put his arm around her, in some drunken attempt at wooing her. It was apparently not working, as her cold body language and rolling eyes made obvious for all except the very person causing her the trouble. He debated going over to step in, but decided that when she had splashed her drink in the other man's face, his help was neither needed nor probably desired. He chuckled to himself as she stormed out of the bar, a few crumpled up dollars left next to the now empty glass. He took another sip of his drink, smiling into the glass. You could never be sure with these Northeastern women; they were bred in the frigid colds of winter and the humidity of the summers, in smoke and salt water and sand and snow. They were hardened steel of skyscraper, and the hot pavement of country road. He was intrigued as all hell by her, but she had gone, a nameless face in the big city.

He would have left the bar unchanged, on a different path, if it wasn't for the righteous indignation of the man who was trying to flirt with that woman. He could feel the anger and embarrassment prickling off of him like sparks, and that electric red energy was targeted towards her. And that was not ok. When he saw him run out of the bar, Dean knew he had to act. He quickly flagged the bartender, throwing down some cash that was probably far too much of a tip, and ran out of the bar after both parties. He skidded to a halt on the curb, taking a moment to see if he could hear where they had gone off to, hoping they were in different directions.

They weren't.

He slowly made his way down the one-way streets that plagued these colonial cities, sharp turns and curves that made it dangerous for anyone to walk alone. He could hear shouting, and he knew he couldn't pretend to be pure human any longer, not if he wanted to make sure she'd make it out alive.

He shook his head under the water, willing the memory away. He remembered very little after that: screaming, him holding that douchebag by the throat against a brick wall, letting just enough of that inhuman edge of him shine through, voice growling and eyes glowing that golden hue, and flinging him across the damn alley.

He instead decided to focus on the positive memories that came out of that chance encounter: the dinner that following night, the long conversations via text and Skype, the admission of his… _affliction_ , and so much more. But he always went back to one.

The first moon together.

He tried so hard to avoid the thought, but when thinking of her, it always went back to that night. He hadn't had a chance to go out for a run, so his tensions were running high, he felt so tightly wound that he could snap at any moment, and she was there, with soft hair and softer skin, with gentle words and gentler touches, holding his face in her hands. He could still feel her skin along the stubble of his cheek, he used it to anchor himself when he felt himself start to float away with the sea, lost to the moon's pull.

The beating of the water against his skin tried to bring him back, but his body was gone, he had already grown hard again at the recollection of her, so soft and pure and desperate to make him feel good that she knew nothing of what she had gotten into, the near pain he felt in holding back for so long, of entering her slowly and those long, deep thrusts inside her, that warmth against his length pulling the wolf out of him slowly but surely.

He remembered the feel of her lips on his, as his hand wrapped itself around his cock, a slow, hesitating stroke, before maintaining a rhythm not unlike the rhythm of her heartbeat and her breathing that first night, which had been branded upon his brain. He soon had to speed up, the teasing was becoming too much, he remembered that same painful twisting in his gut, needing to go harder, to be rougher, to fuck faster and deeper into her, but so so afraid to hurt her, to scare her away. She had sighed out a moan, "just let go, baby," and he remembered gritting out an apology, letting the beast take over.

He was nearly fucking into his fist at this point, the burn of the water lost to his skin, when a sudden burst of cold air on his back knocked into him, feeling almost like it went through him. He had felt like liquid fire, letting the wolf brush against the surface, riding that edge, when that chill struck. He had put a hand up against the wall of the shower, trying to regain that focus, when a hand, so soft and gentle touched his back.

He felt her hands snake around his waist, lips kissing the warm expanse of his back, and he smiled in spite of himself. Even now, years later, she found some way to cut her way through the haze of the monster, to reach through to the man. He turned around, letting her rest her head against his chest. Soon, the silent comfort of their breathing in the water became too much, and he picked her up, wrapping her legs around his waist, resting her back against the wall of the shower, moving kisses from her lips to along her jawline, to down her neck.

For anyone else, the sounds of moans were muffled by the shower, and made inaudible by the late night rain outside, but a whispered name and a choked off howl were all she and him could hear.


	3. Chapter 3

"Do you remember how we first met?" She was laying her head against his chest, enjoying the feel of him twirling her hair in his fingers. She looked up at him quickly, and he laughed to himself.

"Yeah, that's actually what I was first thinking of when I was in the shower. I had to stop thinking about it when I remembered that shit stain that tried to hit on you in the bar." He still felt his blood boil about it, despite it being years since that had happened. He closed his eyes, trying to forget it once more.

"I just think it's funny that you went from just saying hi to me at the bar once to defending my honor."

He stopped twirling her hair at that. "I talked to you before that?"

"Really Dean. You don't remember saying hi to me when you bumped into me? You and Sami were there, and he was hitting on some chick there, and you accidentally bumped into me, and talked to me for about a minute."

He swallowed nervously, honestly not remembering any part of this. That was part of the problem with the human senses versus the wolf senses…if he had to mute those senses, memories tended to go with them. His first memory of her was when he let himself let loose, and he wasn't really surprised at that, but she could probably get offended really quickly if he didn't explain this the right way.

"Well, ok, here's the thing…usually when I'm in big cities, I have to block shit out, you know that, right? Or else it's just an overload of stuff at once and I get a really bad headache…I kind of did that at the bar, so I probably didn't even recognize you as whoever it was I spoke with. I only really paid attention to you once I let myself start feeling more things, after Sami had left…right when that dickhead tried hitting on you…"

He couldn't tell how she felt, but instead of any irritation he had anticipated, she just quietly hummed to herself and rubbed a hand down his stomach, resting it right beneath his belly button. She nuzzled into his chest a bit more, muttering that it made sense, she guessed. She had become adjusted to finding out things about his condition at random moments in life, since almost the very beginning…

* * *

It had been a little more than six month into their relationship, and Dean was feeling the pressure from the boys about meeting her. The weekly breakfast at Roman's place went as calmly as it could when you put four werewolves under the age of 30 in a room together that had exorbitant amounts of bacon and sausage. Roman had sat down, a plate mainly stacked with bacon and pancakes, while Seth had eggs, fruit, and a few pieces of sausage. Dean and Sami were staring at the same plate of bacon, having already had a mini fight over the hashbrowns.

"So, full moon's coming up soon. Does she at least know about our little, uh, 'hunting trips?'" Sami grinned, taking a bite out of a thickly cut piece of bacon, chomping loudly on it. Dean rolled his eyes, and went to throw a piece of sausage at Sami's head, Seth catching it mid air.

"No, really," he took a bite of the sausage, swallowing quickly. "Does she know about us? I wanna meet her. She sounds awesome, and if she hasn't run away screaming yet she seems like a keeper, when do we meet her?" He seemed to be bouncing in his seat, and Dean always wondered where he kept that extra energy. Between Sami's incessant nagging, and Seth's hyperactive enthusiasm, he felt like he was being pressured into a corner. He looked over to Roman, who shrugged, putting down his fork.

"I'd ideally like to meet her so I can get an idea of what type of person she's like, in case we're in the same public place and god forbid something happens to her, one of us can find her quickly and get her away from harm quicker than an EMT would. She's been with you this long, she's one of us now, whether or not you bite her." Ugh, why did Roman always have to be the sensible one. It was actually frustrating, because he always felt bad making any decision without consulting him now.

Sami and Seth nodded, looking back over at Dean, each with a varying amount of food shoveled into their mouth. Dean rolled his eyes and leaned his head backwards, just letting the sun that was pouring in through the windows hit against the top of his head.

"You're probably right, Ro. I'm supposed to be meeting up with her for lunch, I'll talk to her then and I'll let you know from there, alright? But just…please don't awkwardly sniff her or nothing. That's towards you, Sami."

A hashbrown went bouncing off of Dean's cheek in response to that.

* * *

He was pacing nervously in front of her apartment door, anxious about having to explain  _what_  he was to her, and then having to explain further that his brothers, so to speak, wanted to meet her and that oh yeah, they were like this too. She opened the door, and he stopped, taking in her appearance. She had obviously just gotten done with a work out, as the sports bra and yoga pant combination told him. Her hair was up in some messy ponytail or bun situation, and she was nearly chugging a water bottle.

"Hey you…you're here early. Everything ok?"

He smiled, trying hard to not lose control over the scent of her sweat, but keeping it locked in the back of his mind. He shook his head, nervously brushing his hair out of his face. "No worries, I just wanted to talk to you before we headed out. Nothing bad, just…family stuff."

Yeah. Family stuff. That would work. He hoped.

"Oh! Well, in that case…yeah, come in, lemme just take a quick shower, I'm all gross. There's drinks in the fridge, just make yourself comfy." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek, and walked back through the door, Dean following behind her. He couldn't help but admire the view; whatever she was doing had made her ass even more toned than when he first met her, and he could see the sweat glistening off of her skin. He wanted nothing more than to just grab her and lick the sweat off of her neck, but he was trying to introduce this whole wolf thing slowly to her, and that would be the exact opposite of his intentions.

He went towards the fridge, grabbing a soda and popping open the can, making his way over to the living room, and gently falling into the huge chair across from the television. His phone buzzed, and he looked at it quickly, a fleeting message of "so…?" from Sami flashing once. He rolled his eyes and locked his phone, ignoring it for the moment. He took a few more sips of the soda, placing the can down on the table to the left of him, and leaning his head back against the chair. He closed his eyes and took a few deep even breaths, letting his senses sharpen again, taking advantage of the quiet. Suddenly he could hear the pattering of water of the shower clearer, hear the tinny echoes of music being played in the bathroom… _Kate Bush, really?_  He could smell the mixed scents of the body wash, shampoo, and of her skin, and he could feel himself lull off into this strange-yet-happy emptiness of mind, no buzzing in his head, just the rhythm of the water, the breathing, his heart beat, and whatever was playing on her iPod now. He didn't realize how far he had tranced out until he felt a hand on his shoulder, jerking him back to reality.

"Whoa, hey, Dean…you fell asleep on me! I didn't think I took that long…we can always go out another time, y'know." She smiled at him, hair still wet from the shower, but slowly drying, the moisture making it curl slightly at the edges. She wore a simple v-neck shirt and jeans, and no makeup, glasses instead of her usual contacts. She was so  _normal_ , and he adored that about her, that he was so afraid of jeopardizing this just because his brothers were curious about her.

"I was just so relaxed, I must have dozed off. And nah, we can hang out still, it's fine, I'm way too hungry to ditch out on lunch plans. Even after having breakfast with my brothers this morning…" He sat up, grabbing his soda and taking a large gulp of it, wiping at his mouth right after. He looked over to her, across from him on the couch, legs crossed beneath her.

"Yeah, you were saying something about your family. I didn't know you had brothers. I don't actually know much about your family at all, is that what you wanted to talk about?" She cocked her head to the side, and he focused on more inane facts about her, like the fact that her toenails were painted blue while her fingernails were painted pink, that she had a brush of freckles across her cheeks, anything to keep him from having to remind how so not-normal he was.

"Well, they're not my biological brothers. My biological family and I don't talk. Half of them are dead; the other half would be better off dead. These guys are my best friends, and have adopted me into their families, so they're basically my brothers. There are three of them. Roman, Seth, and Sami." He started flicking the tab of the soda can back and forth, the odd little mental  _ping_  accentuating random places of his sentences. "Sami and Seth were giving me shit about not meeting you yet, and Roman spoke up saying he would like to meet you, so I was wondering if you'd be cool with that, meeting them…"

She now had curled her legs underneath her, nodding silently, resting against the arm of the couch. "That'd be nice. I'm sorry you haven't met my family, they just live all over the country so…"

Dean held up a hand to silence her. "Don't even worry about it. Let's go get some food, and we'll talk more about this after, I can feel my stomach eating itself right now…" His stomach growled at the perfect moment, and she let out a giggle that just makes his heart absolutely flutter. He was so afraid of scaring her off, how was he going to just segue into this conversation?

"Yeah, food sounds great. Can we go to the sandwich shop? I've been craving roast beef for about a week now…" She looked up at him, making her eyes look as large and pleading as possible. He rolled his eyes and puts an arm around her, walking towards the door.

"Whatever you want, babe."

* * *

Dean had asked her if she wanted to go for a ride after lunch, to enjoy the weather. Really, it was so he could show her what he was, and the only way to do that was to go to the house he had in the country. She didn't seem bothered, she had her feet out the car window, the seat leaned back, singing along to the radio. He looked over at her, amused at how laid back she was right now, since she would most likely start freaking out when he'd have to tell her the truth.

He pulled onto the dirt road that acted as the driveway for the house, driving beneath canopies of trees and then open sky, back to more trees. He finally reached the tiny ranch, stopping the car and looking over at her. She had put her feet back inside of the car, and was looking around, mostly in awe. "You own this?"

He shrugged, grabbing at their stuff in the backseat. "Yeah, I use it as a vacation home. Whenever me and the boys go on our weekend trips, this is usually where we stay. Figured I'd show you the place." Her eyes lit up, and she got out of the car, whistling low at the sight of the open fields, the deep woods, and the slight vision of mountains on the horizon.

"This must have cost you bank to get. Maybe we can stay here one weekend? I could always use some time away from the city…" She smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist, looking up at him. He smiled and kissed her forehead gently.

"If you play your cards right, maybe we can."

* * *

Later that afternoon, he had worked up the courage to have her come outside with him, "for a walk," but really to tell her the truth. He was incredibly anxious, this was the first person he was telling,  _ever_ , and he was so afraid of what her reaction would be. He was hoping she wouldn't run screaming, but that was asking a bit much. If the tables were turned, he'd probably be a little more than freaked out if the person he had been dating for six months ended up being a monster…

A monster. That's what he thought of himself as. His brothers were trying to change that thought out of his head, but it was hard to not remember that it was those very words his mother had called the person who changed him, before she ended up dying herself. He shook his head slightly, but it was enough to catch attention.

"You ok up there?" She joked at him, since she was rather small in comparison to his height. He smiled down at her, silent but reassuring. They walked for a few more minutes quietly, enjoying the sounds of nature around them.

"Ok, here's good. Sit down. I wanna talk to you some more, about what we were talking about earlier, ok?"

She sat down on the grass, looking around for any bugs or snakes, before making herself more comfortable, or at least as comfortable as she could be on the ground.

"Alright, so what's up. Why'd you whisk me away to the country side to talk about your family?" She was half-joking, and he knew it, but he decided to cut straight to the point.

"I'm gonna sound real fucking cliché saying this, but I'm not like other guys. Ugh, god, fuck, that sounds terrible. I just…I just want you to know something about me, and my brothers, before you meet them, because you deserve to know, we've been seeing each other for this long, and I care about you, and if I didn't care about you this conversation wouldn't even be fucking happening, so just…remember when I beat the piss out of that dude in that alley the day I met you?"

She had started off smirking but her face kind of fell at the memory of the guy that had followed her out of the bar, harassing her for splashing her drink in his face. She nodded, not sure where this was going, but knowing better than to interrupt Dean, he looked really frustrated trying to get this out.

"Ok, so when I tossed that little shit across the alley, the…the thing I wanna talk to you about, it had to do with that. Just…ugh, just look." He points to his eyes and then closes them tightly, taking a moment or two to breathe, and then opening them.

Their color had changed from the blue-gray-green she was used to, to a golden color. She wasn't quite sure what to say, instead her hand going up towards her eyes, and then over her mouth.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's not even the full of it. That's all I let him see, but I'm letting you see the whole thing. Just,  _please, PLEASE_  don't fucking scream, it'll freak me the fuck out. Just, stay where the fuck you are, and just trust me, ok? Ok?"

She nodded, not really sure of what else she could do, but she knew she probably couldn't guarantee that she wouldn't scream. He suddenly stood up, stripping of clothes quickly, and her eyebrow rose when he stood in front of her, fully naked, hands akimbo. "Nope, shut up and let me do this, before I chicken out."

She nodded again, much slower this time, her thoughts getting fuzzy at seeing how in shape he was, how  _naked_  he was, in the woods while the sun was slowly going down. She must have been hallucinating, that  _had_  to be the explanation for the gold eyes, because who the  **fuck**  has gold eyes.

He rolled his eyes, and immediately gets down on all fours, looking up at her quickly, and gritting out the words, "Don't. Scream." Then suddenly his body is contorting, he's trying to hold back a scream of his own, and all that she can see is muscles and bones and skin reforming, and sounds of tearing and breaking and screaming, which turns into these god awful choking and gagging sounds, and then finally these strange animalistic growls. She had already covered her eyes by this point, nauseated by whatever the fuck what happening in front of her, when she finally heard a low whimper, and the sound of something heavy flopping down onto the ground. She peered out between fingers…

And there's a fucking wolf lying down on the ground in front of her, staring at her, with big fucking gold eyes.

It's got gold fucking eyes.  _Didn't Dean just have gold fucking eyes? Where the fuck is Dean? Why is there a fucking wolf… WHY IS THERE A FUCKING WOLF?_

The wolf started to pull itself up, and slowly move towards her, and she started scrambling back, because she was now alone in the woods with a fucking wolf, and like hell was she going to let this thing come any closer to her than it already was. She noticed the wolf stop and sit down, tilting its head looking at her, making a slight whimper, and then getting back onto all fours, bracing itself. She watched in horror and confusion as this wolf's body twisted and contorted…into the now tense and sweaty body of her boyfriend, curled up and coughing on the grass. Naked.

 _Hah. Hahaha. Ahahaha._  She realized the laughter wasn't in her head. She was laughing out loud. Her boyfriend was a werewolf. Dean was a fucking werewolf.

He managed to look up at her, eyes still that golden hue, when he noticed her collapse on the ground.

_Great. You made her pass out. You told her not to scream, and she instead passes out. Good fucking job._

* * *

She woke up a few hours later, the sun having set, the room she was in darkened except for a small light across the room, with someone sitting in the chair watching her…who was definitely not Dean.

"Heeeey you're awake! I'll let Dean know, he's been worried sick about you. I can see why. You're pretty cute." He came closer to the bed, and all she can see is wild black hair before she starts screaming.

"Whoa, hey, whoa, no need for the screaming, I'm a friend, I'm a friend!" He was half-yelling at her, waving his hands in front of himself as some way to distract her from her screaming. She went to start swatting at him with the pillow on the bed when the door banged open, and Dean ran in, with two other people behind him.

"Sami, what the fuck?!"

The one with the wild black hair tossed his hands up, screaming, "I didn't do nothing! She woke up, I said hi and that I was gonna go get you, and she started flipping the fuck out!"

Dean looked over at her, seeing just how tired and shaky she was, sitting in the middle of the bed, somewhere between confused and scared. He sat down, sighing, wrapping an arm around her, and kissing her forehead gently. He let some of the warmth he generally exuded wrap around her, and he spoke low in her ear.

"Hey, shush, it's ok. These are my brothers. These are the ones who wanted to meet you. The one you almost beat to death with a pillow is Sami. These other two are Roman and Seth. They're…like me. All of them, actually…"

She looked over at the other two who were standing in the doorway, both pretty tall and with longish hair, who waved at her. The one with the two-toned hair, he had this really dorky smile and mouthed that he was Seth. So the other one was obviously Roman. Ok, she could get used to this, she thought. Except that all four of these men in this room, who were all attractive in their own way, were all werewolves. That nervous laughter started to bubble up again.

Roman looked over at Dean curiously, when she decided to speak up.

"I'm sorry, just…if all four of you…do that…wolf thing…and are all this damn good looking…I must have fallen into a Harlequin novel, this can't be real life, I must be high as fuck right now, just…wow. WOW." She let out another giggle again, slapping a hand over her mouth, looking over to Dean.

Roman let out a bark of a laugh from the door, amused at her nervous reaction. "As weird as it is, this is real life, baby girl, don't you worry about that. It's a bit much, I totally understand. Go get some rest, I'm sure we all could need it after today. We'll explain it to you tomorrow, alright? It was nice to meet you though, finally." He waved at Sami to follow him, and Seth moved out of the way. Sami nodded towards her and Dean, and then left the room.

Seth hung back for a moment, stretching his arms above his head, and yawning. "Ro's right, I'm gonna call it a night, but I just wanted to say that it's nice to meet you. We're gonna have to chat in the morning, you seem pretty rad. For what I can see right now…" He smiled and gave Dean a fist bump, before walking out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

She sighed and leaned her head back, groaning slightly. "I ask for prince charming, and instead I get the big bad wolf. Awesome. Good job."

Dean looked over at her, raising an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

She opened an eye, looking at him. "You heard me. I ended up with a wolf. Not how most fairy tales end up, you know. Not unless I want to get eaten alive."

He smirked at her and pushed her down on the bed, crawling on top of her quickly. "You make that seem like it's a bad thing, missy."

She could feel the distinctive hot pressure of sudden arousal hit her, and she decided to play along. "Oh, does that get you going? Are you gonna start calling me Red?"

He chuckled, a low deep rumble that seemed to radiate out into her. "I'm not the one talking about stories here, babe. That's all you. I'm still stuck on the eating you part…"

She bit her lip and smirked at him, letting out a small whimper when he started kissing at her neck. "Well, red  _is_  a good color on me, I suppose…"


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So I'm sorry this took forever to update, but fortunately/unfortunately, other stories made their homes in my brain! Thank you for your patience and your wonderful reviews on this, both from the past and present. There's no smut in this chapter, because they are all very verbose jerks and make me write much longer chapters than I feel comfortable posting, so this one is split. I promise, smut in the next chapter. But, in this one, you get Dean's origin story in almost vivid detail, you find out about Roman & Seth, and you find out the girl's name! So there's that!
> 
> Thank you again, and enjoy!

"Babe…babe, wake up."

Krista groaned, pulling the blankets up over her head, Dean's laughter irritating her attempts at sleep. She groaned again, a strange "murr" sound, hiding her head underneath the pillow.

"No, really, Roman might kill Seth trying to hold him back from running up here and jumping on the bed. For all of our sakes, get your cute ass downstairs." He watches her shift around the blanket a few times, amused at how much of a morning person she wasn't. Usually she was the one to drag him out of bed, but today it seems the tables had turned.

"You think my ass is cute?" She's muffled, but the teasing still makes him smirk.

"Yeah, and if you don't get up in the next two minutes, I might have to tear it up." He makes a show of cracking his knuckles and wrists, as if she'd see it.

"Hmm, sounds like it'd be such a chore for you." She slips her foot out from under the blanket, trying to get cool air to regulate the temperature. Unfortunately for her, it gave him an opening.

"That's it." He tears the blankets off, dragging her out of the bed, her legs kicking wildly. He throws her over his shoulder and lays a quick smack on one of her ass cheeks before heading out of the bedroom, chuckling at her vain attempts at making her way out of his grip.

* * *

After a large breakfast in which Seth kept talking with his mouth full, asking questions about her, where she grew up, if she had any sisters - "SETH!" "What, I'm just curious!" – she stretched her back against the chair, and decided that this time, she'd be the one asking the questions.

"Alright, this one is for all of you. Because I'm curious. How did you all…y'know…"

She didn't have to finish her sentence in order for them to know what she was asking. Sami looked nervously over to Dean, who had bristled at her question. Roman and Seth looked to each other, the hesitation showing in their face.

"Did I…did I ask a bad question? Like, are there certain things I shouldn't ask?"

Roman put his fork down, cracking his neck from side to side, before speaking up. "It's not so much that you shouldn't ask, but it's… I don't want to say impolite to ask, because if we're willing to let you know what we are, you should know how we got there. It's just…"

"I said it with no tact."

"Yeah."

She nods, biting her lip in thought. She feels oddly embarrassed, even though she had no clue that she had made any sort of faux pas. It's not like you're taught how to bring up the question of being turned into a werewolf in etiquette classes.

"Don't worry about it, you didn't know. But uh, think of it as asking someone about their scars. You don't know if it's from something traumatic or something stupid, you know? You don't know what the story may be, so, uh… yeah, don't worry about it now." She flinched a little, feeling like she was being spoken down to, but she knew he was right. She hadn't thought of what it could bring up, and seeing how quiet Dean was, she wished she knew this before hand. She reached over to grab his hand, but she could see it form slowly into a tight fist. Shit. She fucked up.

"Seth and I, we're hereditary. I always knew. He didn't." He thumbs over at Seth who nods, running fingers through the black and blonde mop on his head.

"Roman grew up in a whole family of them, learned at a real young age what to expect. I guess it must be easier when you grow up knowing. I got it from my father, my biological one. Don't know him, don't particularly care to know him, but I thought the hairy thing was just him being Armenian…" He laughs to himself, and coughs, realizing that everyone else is still in serious mode. "So whenever it happened, I was scared shitless. Thought I was dying, you know? And then I thought it was a nightmare. And…man, I don't even know. All I know is that I tried to find people like me after, and the only one who seemed really willing to help was Roman. He knew what it was like to be a hereditary wolf, not like everyone else I met who got changed. It's a different process altogether."

She nodded, looking over to Dean, who seemed to become more stone-like as Seth kept talking. Those normally beautiful blue eyes had gone a little grey, a little icy, and his jaw was set. She went to reach over to him again when he pushed himself away from the table and stood up.

"I gotta go for a walk. Don't wait up." He walks towards the door, grabbing the leather jacket he had hanging up on one of the hooks, before slamming the door behind him.

She wanted to get up and go after him, but Sami grabs her wrist just as she starts to stand up. "Sweetie, if you were smart, you'd leave him alone."

She looked down at Sami, who looked back at her with these large, honest green eyes, and she figured if anyone knew how Dean would react, it'd probably be the brothers he's had since god knows how long. She sighs, and he lets go. "I'm…I'm gonna go upstairs

* * *

A half hour later or so, she hears a knock at the semi-closed door. She's laying down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling, not really paying attention to anything in particular. She speaks up, "Come in," not looking to see who it is that's knocking.

"Hey…listen, Kris, can we talk?"

She stops, blinking a few seconds, not used to that voice saying her name, before turning to see Sami standing in the doorway, hands in his pockets, his wild black hair held back by a bandana. He was wearing some t-shirt with some god-awful horror B movie design on it, and ripped jeans. He seemed a lot younger than he was, and the way he was carrying himself, it seemed this might have been on purpose.

"Yeah…what's up Sami?"

He walks in, and starts to close the door, before looking at her. "Is…is this ok?" She nods, and he closes the door behind him with a soft  _click_.

"Listen, I'm sorry that I grabbed your wrist like that. It's just…I've known Dean for a while. I know how he gets, and I know he freaks the fuck out about the fear of hurting you. Going after him like that, that soon? It might have happened. Not on his intention or anything, but, well…that's the thing with us. We tend to sort of break everything we touch.

"But I wanted you to know that it wasn't me trying to be a dick, ok? Like…Roman was right. You didn't know, and considering you've had a lot dropped on you in the past 24 hours, it only made sense that you wanted some more answers. And that's cool, whatever, fuck it, you should know. But man, Dean's been through some shit. He doesn't really like talking about his past too much…"

He sits down gently on the edge of the bed, making sure to not get too close to her, because he knew that Dean would fly off the handle if he was still in his state when he came back.

"He might kill me, actually kill me, if I tell you, but I know what happened for the most part, and I think you deserve to know."

She sits up, crossing her legs beneath her. "Sami, really, it's not a big deal, don't worry about it."

"Nah, you don't get it. He  _told you about us_. What we are… You're as serious as I've ever seen, and I've known him since I was normal."

"Sami, I can't imagine a time that you've ever been normal." She smirks, watching as his eyes grow wide.

"Oh I see how it is, you go from trying to murder me with a fucking pillow to thinking you can make jokes about me. You're in for it, girl."

He grabbed her and pulled her tight against him, giving her a noogie. She let out a laugh that was partially scream, "What are you, thirteen?" She pushed him away, rubbing the top of her head slightly after.

He got a huge cheesy grin on his face, interlacing his fingers and cracking his knuckles out in front of him. "Thirteen and a half, thank you very much." She rolled her eyes at him, punching him lightly on the arm.

"No, but really, Kris, if you want to know, I'll let you know. And hell, I'll let you know how I got changed too. That way I can always tell Dean if he finds out that it's because I had to give background to how we met…"

"Sami, please don't feel like you have to."

"No, Kris, you should know."

She shrugged, realizing that no matter how much she protested, if Sami wanted to tell her, then he'd tell her. "Go ahead Sami."

"Alright, well. I had met Dean by the time he'd already been changed. He'd only been like that for maybe a year, year and a half? We're both punk brats out of shitty ass Ohio, so we bonded immediately. He got really drunk one night, and confided in me about how that was the reason why he was able to withstand a lot of the really violent ass brawls he'd get into, like it was nothing. He'd just brush off beatings that would probably have put anyone else in a hospital. And I thought he was high as a fucking kite whenever he told me that he was a fucking wolf, like, I like horror movies and all but  _come on_ , you know? And then he did the fucking eye thing, and I was sober as all fuck, and whenever I saw the gold eyes, man, I kind of shit myself a little bit."

She wrinkled her nose, but he swatted at her, silently telling her to let him keep going.

"So anyway, he starts telling me about his family, which he never really talked about, because you know, shitty bullshit teenage angst, who the fuck needs it. But he starts talking about his mom, and like, I knew he had some issues with his mom, but he never said why. And so I guess his mom was like this wicked drugged out whore or whatever, and would bring the dudes home  _while he was there_. Which, you know, must fuck a kid up way more than I can even think about.

"Well, anyways, it was like really late at night, and he can't fucking sleep, and he can hear his mom getting into this argument with this dude, I guess he was there like  _all the fucking time_. And suddenly like, his mom is screaming, and he hears this weird fucking growling and shit, and of course he comes busting out of the room, because, one, his mom is screaming and it's really fucking late at night and he's kind of oddly concerned, and two, because he's really sick of his mom keeping him the fuck up and is really fucking pissed. And he walks in, and there's this fucking wolf in this shitty ass apartment in Cincinnati, which, you know, wouldn't happen. So he sees this thing dive for his mom, and as much as she neglected him and shit, it's still his mom, you know? So he goes to jump in front of his mom, and this thing like, rips at his back and his neck, he goes down, he's bleeding fucking everywhere, his mom's screaming her fucking lungs out, and this piece of shit goes after her.

"And like, he's just laying there, thinking that he's gonna bleed to fucking death at like fifteen or sixteen, and his mom like, calls the damn thing a monster, which  _he fucking was_ , and that's all that Dean remembered until he like, woke up the next morning in a fucking hospital bed. He survived, but his mom didn't. She uh…she made it out a lot worse than he did. He never told me exactly what happened, but he's given hints. Hints that I don't really wanna share with you, if you don't mind…"

He winces, an arm unconsciously covering his stomach. She nods, taking in the subtle hint that he doesn't even realize he's giving.

"So yeah. He recovers, and minus a scar here or there, the doctor's can't figure out how the fuck he did it. And he gets this wicked bad anger problem, but everyone kind of figured it was because, you know, his mom got murdered basically in front of him, and his dad, well, no one knew where his dad was, not even Dean. So he kind of was this loner street rat kid who hung out with the wrong crowd and would get into fights and shit. And so he'd sort of couch surf from place to place, and that's how we ran into each other eventually.

"He met some of my other friends, and like, he was cool with them for the most part, but we hit it off and he basically adopted me as a little brother, which was cool, like whatever, I had this cool tall douchebag for a brother and he could beat anyone's ass and like, he'd be standing there covered in fucking blood, and he'd just pop open a beer that one of the older guys I was friends with would get for us, and he'd just down the entire bottle, face covered in fucking blood, and just smile it off like it was nothing.

"So whenever he told me he was a fucking wolf, like, man, it was weird as fuck. And so I drag him back to the shithole I was staying in, and he said he'd show me, and like, ok, not gonna lie, kinda weird seeing him naked, but man, whatever, and he fucking changed  _right in front of me_ , and man, no horror movie will ever get that shit right, because it makes no goddamn sense. Like, your body shouldn't be able to survive that, no one's should, your skin and bones and muscles and organs shouldn't be able to bounce around like fucking rubber, cracking and moving back in all these weird angles that a human body can do, it made no fucking sense, but I couldn't look goddamn away, and then suddenly there was this big, golden brown wolf in my goddamn shithole apartment. And you know what I did?"

"Did you laugh?"

"…yeah, actually. Why?"

"No reason. Keep going."

Sami raised an eyebrow, but shrugged it off. "Yeah ok so like, he changes back, and then he tells me that story that I just told you. And so he tells me that maybe a week or two after he got out of the hospital, he starts getting this weird itching feeling under his skin, and he's popping every allergy medication he can think of, he's ready to start pouring calamine lotion on himself, and it just gets worse the closer it gets to full moon, but he don't realize that. And so finally, full moon hits, and he's in this god awful pain, and no amount of alcohol or pills or coke or whatever can stop it, it's just making it fucking worse, and then finally, it just happens."

"What. What happens, Sami."

"I wolfed out."

Sami and Krista look over to see Dean standing in the doorway, the leather jacket slung over one shoulder, hair in his face, in a white wife-beater and jeans. Kris swallowed nervously, and also partially out of attraction, but mostly because she really didn't want to be witness to Sami's murder.

"Ah man, how long have you been standing there?"

"Since when you mentioned shitting yourself. Which, you know, you should probably get that checked on." He smirks, a dimple deciding to show up, dodging a pillow thrown at his head.

"Man, I didn't even hear you open the door, or else I wouldn't have just told her all of that." Sami gets up from the bed, suddenly very conscious of how bad this may have looked if Dean was still vaguely irritable.

Dean shrugged, tossing the jacket on the chair near the wall, making his way over to the bed, dropping himself right where Sami sat. "Nah, you did a good job of telling her. Should I tell her about how you got changed?"

Sami goes to open his mouth, but Krista speaks up. "I…I think that's enough for right now, actually. You guys are on edge, and don't think I didn't check when you guys were cleaning up or having a temper tantrum…full moon is this weekend. You're all on edge. So, just…don't worry about it. Let me pack my shit up, and I can call a cab and head home."

Sami and Dean turn to look at her. "What?"

Krista tilts her head slightly, a look of confusion on her face. "What…can I not go home now or something?"

Sami looks to Dean, shrugging. "That's…that's all on you, bro. I'm…gonna go…see if Roman's…doing…a thing…" He quickly heads out of the room, waving back blindly at Dean and Kris before closing the door sharply behind him.

"What was that all about?"

"Uhm. Well. Sami seems to be under the impression that you'd be staying here,  _especially_  since it's full moon this weekend."

"Why would that matter?"

He looks at her, giving her that stupid smolder of his that always made her insides twist.

"Oh.  _Oh_. Jesus…uhm…I…I guess I can? Stay, I mean. I can stay. If you want me to. Or need me to."

He wraps an arm around her, bringing his lips to the side of her head. "Both. Want you. Need you. Both work."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! Smut! I actually had to push some of the stuff I had originally outlined as cute or funny plot points out of my brain or else these two would never get back to the amazing sex that started this story in the first place. I hope you all enjoy, and thank you all for your kind words.

Krista was blessed to have a boss that really liked her. Anywhere else, if she called and sprung on them that she'd need the rest of the week and the weekend off, she'd be fired on the spot. Her boss, on the other hand, told her that it was a great idea, because she had way too much vacation time banked up and corporate wasn't going to let her roll it over anymore. So that Tuesday afternoon that she had called, she found herself with nothing to do until that following Monday.

Except, you know, live with four werewolves the week of a full moon.

No biggie.

The week had gone by rather uneventfully. She mainly stayed inside, chatting with Seth, Roman, and Sami about some of Dean's more canine personality traits, while he made sarcastic one-liners and sneers back at them, but making sure to wink every now and then to let Krista know that he was kidding. The very few times they did go into public, they mainly kept to themselves, except for when she had to make sure the four of them didn't buy the entire grocery store out of steak. She managed to coerce them into letting her buy some clothes to keep at the house, before they all headed back.

She yawned, holding the mug of tea she had made in her hands. She really did like the break from the hustle and bustle of the city, and hearing birds chirping and seeing the rain on the grass was much better than hearing the blaring of horns and the splashing of puddles. No matter where she was though, her day almost always started with her waking up in Dean's arms.

She had to slowly slide her way out of his arms this morning; he was nearly wrapped around her, slightly snoring, his face burrowed into her shoulder. She wanted to stay like that forever, or at least for a while longer, but she needed the time away to think. It was Thursday, and the first of the three days that marked a full moon… she wasn't sure what to expect, but she knew she needed to get herself prepared for it, whatever it was.

She put the mug down, feeling this irresistible urge to step out onto the damp grass, feeling the blades between her toes. It was really early, and she had only the jeans and t-shirt that she had on her yesterday, the rest of her laundry in the wash, but something in the back of her mind was just urging her on.

She tiptoed down the stairs, the cool brick made moist by the dew. The minute her feet touched the grass, it was like something in her clicked. She remembered childhood moments of playing barefoot in the backyard, getting yelled at by her grandmother when she'd try to come in the house, completely covered in dirt, her hands and feet the worst. Being in the city for so long, she felt torn away from that strange, nature-loving side of her. It only made sense that the man she fell in love with was a wild animal.

She had lain down by this point, feeling the grass almost cradle her, softer than any bed she could ever buy.  _In love_. She'd have to come back to that, when she had the space to sit down and think clearly about this. Right now, all she could think of was tall trees and the smell of rain and maybe, if she could will herself to not get jumpy, maybe even feeling what his fur would feel like under her fingers.

"You ok over there?"

She opened her eyes, looking over to see Dean standing on the porch, brushing his hair out of his eyes, and wearing nothing but pajama bottoms. Goddamn, she could get used to that.

"Yeah, I'm good. It's just nice to be able to lie down in the grass again. I haven't done it in years." She stretched her arms and legs out, yawning loudly with closed eyes, before opening them and looking over to see a hand reaching down towards her, him standing next to her. "What?"

"Come on, let's get inside. It's going to rain, and we need to talk before tonight anyways."

She looked up at the sky, which while it wasn't blue also didn't have any clouds in it. "How do you know that? It doesn't look like it to -" Suddenly it was as if on cue, rain started falling, Dean laughing as Krista grabbed onto his hand, pulled herself up and started to run towards the house. He ran in after her, sliding inside the hallway and closing the door behind him.

* * *

Seth had been sitting in the living room, just watching out of the window at the rain falling, the pattering of it against the glass hypnotizing him. When he felt weight next to him on the couch, he looked over, seeing Krista there, watching with him. "You ok, Kris?"

"Worried about tonight."

"I mean…I understand why you're worried, but don't worry, we'll take care of him."

"No, I mean, I don't worry about him. He's been doing this for years, you all have. I'm worried for myself…"

Seth sat there, looking out at the rain a bit more. His attention was a bit lost; he could feel the urge to just shed his skin and go running into those woods, but he knew better than to do it in the daylight. It was too risky that way, one of the first things that Roman had ever taught him. He blinked a few times to regain his senses, and looked back over at Krista, a lazy smile on his face.

"You'll be fine. You actually kind of surprised all of us with how well you took it. I mean, minus the laughing and the passing out and the trying to murder Sami with a pillow. Most people would have run screaming, or, y'know, probably tried to kill us."

He shrugged, looking back out at the window, while Krista sighed, leaning her head against the back of the couch.

"It's weird, Seth. I'm not going to lie. A week ago if you told me that my boyfriend and his friends were…well, I guess the term would be  _werewolves_ , huh? If you told me that…I would have probably thought you were drunk. But now, now that I've seen it? I wonder what else is out there. Who else I know that may be like this, be like you guys, be something completely different."

"Well, like it or not, you're one of us now, even if you stay all mundane and shit. You're pack. Don't tell Dean I called us that, he gets a little twitchy about, y'know, the stereotypes and stuff. I wouldn't use the word  _werewolf_  in front of him either. Like I said, it's different for naturals and changed…"

She nodded, closing her eyes. The sound of the rain was calming her nerves slightly, and for all of his hyperactivity earlier in the week, he seemed to have mellowed out. Maybe it was a side effect of the full moon.

"But yeah, you're one of us now for sure. Since he told you about us. He's never done that before, you know. You're the first person that he's dated since he got changed that he's told. So, that's gotta mean something." He looked over, grinning like he knew a dirty secret. Krista let it slide. She really wasn't ready to have this conversation, not now, not on a weekend like this.

"Well, who knows Seth, but what I know is that I don't know what to expect tonight."

"Well, we usually go out for a run, mainly just to get some of the tension out of us. The big stuff will probably happen tomorrow. But tonight we'll just shift for the fuck of it. Nothing really major to worry about."

He got that lazy smile on his face again, looking back out at the rain. Krista knew he was only half here, the other half of him already running through those trees with his brothers. "Thanks Seth. I appreciate it."

"No problem." He didn't look away from the window

* * *

As night approached, it was almost as if you could taste the tension in the house. It was a viscous, thrumming energy that she would have to wade through in order to reach the room that her and Dean shared. She had managed to avoid brushing up against any of it, until she ended up face first in Dean's chest. She looked up at him, the sight of him with wild hair and stubble on his cheeks starting a tiny flame of arousal in her stomach. Nothing to be concerned about yet, but something to still keep an eye on…

"Whoa, hey, watch where you're going. You seem distracted…" He looked down at her, amused at how flustered she was.

"Yeah, you try not being distracted being the only human in a house with four…uhm…"

"Wolves. Just say wolves."

"… a house with four wolves."

"Well, don't worry about it. Only three of them are going for a run tonight. I figured I'd stay in with you, since you're so worried and all." He smiled down at her, but his face fell when she had nothing but a look of shock on her face.

"Don't…don't you think that's a bad idea?"

He shrugged, "Nah, the only run I'll actually need is tomorrow. We just usually stretch it out over the three days to make it not as painful, but eh, I'll get over it. I want to make sure you're ok." He opened the door to the bedroom, allowing her to walk inside just barely before leaning down to whisper in her ear. "And maybe I'll need other things…"

She could feel the blush rising up her cheeks.

* * *

Dean had been very touchy-feely all night, playing with her hair, wrapping his arm around her, kissing at her neck and shoulder, tracing his fingers up and down her arm towards her hand. He was always pretty touch oriented, which Krista loved because that was the quickest way to get her going, but this was a bit much, even for him.

Finally, any pretense he had of watching whatever was on TV with her had failed, and he moved to be on top of her, kissing at her neck, grinding down onto her. He bites at the lobe of her ear gently, his voice having gone a little lower and more like a growl. "Need you, Kris."

Krista barely had time to form words before he was kissing his way down her body, tearing clothes off of her and into shreds. He reaches her jeans and looks up, his eyes switching back and forth from normal to that unnatural gold, flickering back and forth whenever he'd blink. She nodded slowly, gulping, wondering to herself what had she gotten herself into.

He fumbles with the jeans for half a minute, getting more and more irritated with each passing second, fighting with himself to not rip these off as well, since he had already destroyed her shirt, and nearly her bra. He finally got the jeans off and yanks her panties down her legs as well, flinging them off of the bed. He gets off of the bed quickly, quickly removing his clothes, before climbing back onto the bed, kneeling between her legs.

He looks at her, eyes having gone gold now, with no flickering back and forth. She could see him struggling; not having gone out with his brothers must have made his other cravings more intense. She nods, managing to nervously croak out "need you too." He grabs her by the hips and slides in slowly. He can feel just how wet she is, but he can also feel that she's anxious, nervous, and it's making her tighten up in a way that was not a good sign.

"Let me in, baby." He's trying hard to keep in control, thrusting into her incredibly slow and shallow, trying to get her to loosen up a little. She finally does when he moves his hand between them, very gently rubbing at her clit. He groaned as he felt himself sink deeper into her, and pulled his hand away, to rest back at her hipbone. He maintained his rhythm; long and languid strokes that seemed to both keep him relatively human, but still find a safe way to draw the wolf out slowly. It felt like static in the back of his brain and along the column of his spine, prickling at him as if it would sprout out of him, almost like fur.

_Fuck_.

He could feel his arms shaking with how much he was holding back. He wanted to bury himself deep within her, repeatedly, he wanted to leave bite marks and bruises, he wanted to hear her make incoherent moans and whimpers because of him. He wanted to drag nails down her body, to mark her, to claim her as his.

Krista could tell he was restraining himself. She could see in the way he held his eyes shut, the way his arm that was holding him up was shaking, how he seemed so tightly coiled. She took a deep breath, enjoying the feel of him slowly drawing himself out one more time. "Just let go, baby…it's ok."

He stopped, opening his eyes, looking back at her. She saw the confusion on his face, and she rested a hand gently on his cheek, feeling the stubble on her palm. He nuzzled into it, gently. He opened his eyes again, and for a brief moment they were that pale blue she had seen earlier in the day. "I'm sorry…"

"It's ok. Just let go."

She watched his eyes go gold, and soon his hand was wrapped around her wrist, forcing it down above her head, squeezing tightly. He tightened the grip his other hand had on her hip, and rested his face in the crook of her neck, soon using both hands to grip onto her hips, shoving himself inside desperately, as if each thrust wasn't deep enough. He wanted to be inside her, almost like he wanted to hide within her. His brain was starting to short-circuit, he couldn't think in full sentences anymore, he just knew that he felt as if he was chasing prey, and the feel of her legs wrapped tightly around him, the sounds she was making coming out breathy and broken, made him skirt that edge. He felt as if he were on fire, and the minute that her nails dragged down his back, even just lightly, he buried himself within her a final time, holding her in place as he came, a groan-turned-growl rumbling forth.

He stayed there momentarily, catching his breath, before pulling out slowly, moving his body downwards until his face was between her legs. He looked up at her, before starting to lick inside of her, tasting both her and himself on his tongue.

She wanted to flinch, slightly, she was kind of sore, but the way he gently lapped at her, she couldn't help but feel pleasant warmth tingling throughout her body. She wouldn't even care if she didn't come, it all felt so good, she could go without at this point. But soon he's sucking gently at her clit, digging fingers into her thighs, licking as if he wanted to absolutely make sure he had gotten every single drop out of her, and when he moaned against her lips, it snuck up on her, racing up her back and through her stomach to finally overtake her.

He groaned, feeling her come against his mouth, and very gently slowed his pace, until finally he had broken away with a gasp, mouth and chin wet. He crawled up to her, kissing her softly, opening his mouth to let her taste them combined. After he was content with kissing her, he collapsed on the bed next to her, sweaty and exhausted, an arm thrown over her stomach. She sighed, closing her eyes, opening them briefly to look over at him. The moon had broken through some of the trees and was shining through the window, some of its light hitting the expanse of his back. Love,  _yeah… love_ , was an interesting creature.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thank you, everyone, for the kudos on this. If you really like it, I would like if you could leave a comment or a review, just something to let me know what parts you enjoyed or didn't enjoy, and what you'd like to see! Otherwise, enjoy!

The sound of howling had woken her out of a deep sleep. Krista groaned, knowing she’d have to get used to that. She rolled over, expecting to find Dean lying next to her, still naked and snoring, but was instead rewarded with an empty half of the bed. She figured it would happen, eventually. Sure, he had said that he wanted to stay in to make sure she was ok, but she knew that the moon’s pull would eventually tug on him. She saw how Seth was when it was still daylight, but she couldn’t even fathom how it must have felt for Dean. Trying to hold off, even if it was only for a bit, being as aggressive in bed as he had been, and then to have the moonlight itself shining down on his sweat-covered skin…if she had the same affliction, _that’s probably what he’d call it_ , she’d do the exact same thing.

The howls seemed to get louder, as if they were closer. Krista’s curiosity got the best of her, since she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep, and she made her way out of the bed slowly, legs still weak from earlier, to look out the window. It truly was a beautiful view: moon and stars illuminating the sky, expanses of pine, oak, maple and ash acting as canopy in the newly reborn spring of the Northeast. She heard another howl, and something deep down told her it was a final warning, a call to come home. She couldn’t see them, the trees blocked that view, but she saw a figure stumbling slightly out of the woods, fiddling with a belt around his pants. From the long hair she could see, and the size of his build, she saw that it was Roman. It figured that he’d be the first one, the one to rally the troops, so to speak. He was the hereditary, the one who grew up knowing. He probably had the easiest time changing. 

Soon she heard other howls in response, and it made hairs rise on her arms and chills down her back. There was truly nothing more amazing than to hear a wolf howl in person, she had only heard the same sound bite used in television shows and movies. They could never do it justice. Slowly but surely, the rest of them made their way out of the woods, Dean being last. He was holding his arm, cradling it, as if he had hurt himself. He quickly moved his shoulder back, and the brief scream of pain she heard made her stomach twist. He checked his arm and shoulders, before carrying on walking back to the house as if nothing had happened. 

Krista shook her head, and decided to make her way down to see them all. She threw on a pair of panties and grabbed one of his tshirts, before making her way out of the room and down the stairs. Just as she had reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw the door open, with the four of them spilling in. She took in their appearance, bedraggled and exhausted. “Do you guys want me to cook you up some food? You can all get washed up while I make some steak or something…”

Roman huffed out what was probably a laugh, but fatigue took the sound from it. “That sounds great, actually.” 

While Roman, Seth, and Sami made their way to the separate bathrooms in the house, Dean stayed behind, watching as Krista grabbed some of the steaks that had been already seasoned and marinated in the fridge. He waited as patiently as he could while she got the food ready, setting up the stove to cook them. She hummed to herself, and the sheer domesticity of it made Dean’s heart do that weird flip that it had done back at her apartment. He liked this, being able to come in from a run with the boys and have her waiting here. He liked it a lot. 

He finally couldn’t hold off any longer, and when she was standing there, watching the steaks cook, he walked over, wrapping his arms around her waist. He kissed her cheek, but before he could say anything, Sami spoke up, walking into the kitchen rubbing a towel over his head. “For fucks sake dude, people eat in here, calm it down.” 

Without looking over at Sami, Dean laughed. “Yeah well I already ate.” Krista felt her cheeks turn red, heard Sami groan in half-hearted disgust, and she bit her bottom lip when she felt Dean lick lightly at the edge of her ear. “Smells good…” 

She coughed slightly, “what…what smells good?”

“The steaks. They smell good. You might want to flip them.” 

She reached for the tongs, blushing some more, Dean chuckling at her nervousness.

“Boy, go take a shower and leave Kris alone, she looks like she’s gonna pass out, and I don’t want my damn steak burnt.” Roman flung his towel at Dean’s head, and he laughed, it landing only halfway on his head. Dean held his hands up, and made his way towards the bathroom, laughing when Sami whipped him on the thigh with his towel. 

The very late dinner had ended up becoming a very early breakfast, and after cooking the steaks for the boys and herself, Krista decided to fry some eggs and make some homefries with peppers and onions, which led to Seth and Sami asking if she could stay there forever. It felt nice to be sitting with them, eating and laughing loudly at about three in the morning, and some part of her didn’t want to go back to the hustle and bustle of the big city. Maybe she could do her work from home, and live here with Dean, and whenever the boys needed to come by she’d… 

She’d _what_ , exactly? She wasn’t really a domestic person, never wanted to be the stay at home wife or mother, _why was she even thinking like this?_ She looked over at Dean, who raised an eyebrow at her, obviously noticing her distraction. They were interrupted by Roman, who let out a huge yawn, stretching his back over the chair, pushing it out from the table. “Kris, you are more than welcome to cook for us _anytime_. Dean, you lucky son of a bitch.” 

Dean smiled, an actual smile that showed dimples and teeth and he even kind of stuck his tongue out a little. “Yeah, I mean, I _guess_.” He winked at Krista, before getting up from the table and walking over to where she was sitting. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, “I think it’s time for bed, don’t you?” She nodded, and quickly said good night to the other three men before making her way upstairs with Dean.

Roman laughed, shaking his head. “That poor girl has no idea what she got herself into.”

* * *

The minute the door closed behind him, Dean grabbed Krista and spun her, pressing her firmly against his body. He kissed her neck, sniffing at her hair. “I wasn’t kidding you know,” he mumbles against her skin. “You smell so good.” 

Krista smirked, not letting the joke get the best of her again. “Good enough to eat?”

“Stop with the fairy tale jokes. And you and I both know the answer to that one.” He bites gently against her neck, chuckling when a whine escapes her lips. “Take off your clothes and get on the bed.” He pushes her slightly towards the bed, and she complies, quickly stripping before crawling onto the bed. She hears the satisfying sound of a belt being undone, and a zipper being pulled down, and she turns her head to watch him. 

She really didn’t know how she managed to get this lucky, all things considered. He was tall, and handsome, and in shape, and _goddamn_ he was great in bed, and ok… so maybe he turned into a wild animal, literally, a few days during the month, but in the grand scheme of things, she could live with that. She caught herself, quickly. Not the time to be thinking these things. 

“Like what you see?” He noticed her staring, and strokes himself loosely a few times, watching her cheeks turn a little pink from watching. He loved how she still had some semblance of innocence to her, it just added to the multitude of things about her that he loved.

Loved.

Well, _shit._

“Yeah. Yeah I do.” She smiled at him, and he finally made his way over to the bed, having removed his jeans fully on the way over. He kissed each shoulder blade as he moved to cover her body with his. He slipped an arm around her, his hand working its way south, until his fingers found her clit, rubbing gently.

“I can’t promise I’ll be gentle with you like this, but I’ll try.”

“Maybe I don’t want you to be gentle?” She tried to say it without any shakiness to her voice, but him rubbing at her, so slow and gently, ruined that for her. She heard him laugh, another kiss against her right shoulder.

“Maybe I want to be. Like I said, I can’t promise, but I’ll try. Just, humor me?”

She nodded, sighing out an _okay_ as he moved his fingers lower to feel if she was wet enough. When his hand moved away, she shifted her hips slightly, but she paused when she felt his other hand rest on the small of her back. She laid her upper body more on the bed, sighing when she felt him enter her slowly.

He pushed into her gently the first few times, cautious because of how rough he had been earlier. He moved a hand from her hips up to her chest, playing with her nipples briefly, feeling them harden under his fingers, before he pushed at her chest to bring her up. She raised her upper body gently, feeling her back press against his chest, her skin brushing against the hair on his chest. 

He continued to thrust into her, slow but deep, moving his hand back around her body to rub at her clit, whispering in her ear, “that’s it baby, just like that” when she starts to whimper and moan. He quickened his pace slightly, not wanting to trigger that animalistic need again, and rubbed a little harder and quicker against her. He was rewarded with feeling her tremble and tighten slightly around him.

“Come on Kris, that’s it…” He kissed and licked at her neck, before her arms gave up and she rested her head on the bed face first, her hands digging into the sheets. He moved his hand away, knowing the change in the angle would work out in both of their favors; he’d get deeper inside of her, and she’d get to feel him against her regardless. 

He heard her beg out for him to go faster and rougher, and he wanted to keep this as gentle as possible, but she was clawing at the sheets, moaning into the mattress to silence herself, and he could tell she was close. So he gave in. 

The room, momentarily, was filled with the sounds of muffled moans, skin hitting skin, heavy breathing and the occasional grunt. Finally, these breathy, sighed out whimpers burst forth from her lips, and she tightened around him, clawing desperately at the sheets. She managed to form the words “keep…going…” before burying her face in the bed, a final groan making its way out of her.

He slammed into her a few more times before he felt his orgasm rush upon him, causing him to dig his fingers into her hips to the point of possibly bruising her. He wanted to bite down on her shoulder as he came, but he didn’t know how badly it could hurt her, and he didn’t want to risk it. He never wanted to hurt her, and he would have to keep an eye on her hips when they both woke up. So instead, he bit back a growl, the way his throat clenches and how the air leaves his lungs, it’s almost like a slight howl breaks loose. _No._

He stayed there for a moment, letting the aftershocks ride out, before pulling out gently, a sigh falling from Krista’s lips. He stumbled into the bathroom, grabbing a facecloth and wetting it under the faucet. He looked up into the mirror and his eyes were gold. _No._ He shook his head, willing it away. He opened them again and watched them slowly turn back to blue, the gold disappearing at the edges. He made his way back into the bedroom, and moved towards Krista’s body.

He pushed at her, whispering to her to roll on her back, which she did, and he gently wiped at her, making sure she was as clean as he could manage right now. He wiped himself off with the facecloth and threw it towards where his jeans lay on the floor. He crawled into the bed next to her, and almost instantaneously Krista wrapped her arm around him, nuzzling her face into his chest.

She took a deep breath, sighing, sleep having already taken her half away. She yawned, rubbing her cheek against his chest, and mumbled, “love you.”

 _Oh_. 

He blinked, his hand still rubbing up and down her back gently, not expecting that. He didn’t dislike it, not at all, he felt the same, but neither of them had said it to each other, and for it to be said like that, so impromptu, so openly… it sort of took the pressure off of him. He kissed the top of her head, smiling when he heard a very faint snore coming from her.

He sighed. “Love you too.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thank you all for your kind words and support for this fic! It makes my heart happy knowing that my silly little love for werewolves is not so weird or silly, and that I've even converted some of y'all. As always, reviews are appreciated & heavily preferred, so I know what you guys like & dislike! Without further ado.

It was dark, but the night had a strange blue tint to it. She was surrounded by trees; tall, black, imposing. Suddenly, a choir of howls. She looked around, desperately, the vision in front of her stunted by the omnipresent shadow of the trees. No moon, no stars, utter darkness, except for the glow of what seemed like a thousand golden eyes through the thicket. Surrounding her, closing in.

Krista looked down at her hands, specked with dirt and dried blood. She looked up and Dean stood before her, eyes golden, chest heaving, drenched in sweat. There was blood at his mouth and on his hands, going up his arms to the elbow. She realized suddenly the pain she was feeling, and looked down to find her chest gaping open. He held out a hand, and her heart rested there, beating, still flush with blood and adrenaline. She desperately snatched it, shoving it within the cavity of her chest, and without warning, the air in her lungs disappeared.

She dropped to her knees, scratching at her throat, eyes watering, mouth open to scream but no sound escaping, no blood spilling from her wide-open chest. Wild eyed, she looked up at Dean for help, but he just watched, silently, with uncertainty and pain and curiosity flickering in his eyes. He wiped at his face, streaks of blood marking him as if it were war paint. She fell over onto her hands, and suddenly she was out of her body, watching next to Dean. She looked over at him, and he looked back at her, before pointing to her body.

Krista woke up screaming, the last image in her head being the vision of her eyes flickering to a bright gold.

Dean had been downstairs, grabbing a drink, when he heard Krista’s scream. The glass fell from his hands, shattering on the tile as he ran for the stairs. He rushed into the bedroom, finding her pacing, staring down at her chest, scratching at her sternum, noises leaving her mouth that sounded like mixes of concerned whines and confused wails. She looked up at him, eyes red and puffy, tears streaking her face.

“What color are my eyes?” 

“Kris, what are you talking about? What’s wrong?”

“Dean, what color are my eyes?”

“Kris, sit down and tell me what’s wrong.” 

“WHAT FUCKING COLOR ARE MY EYES.”

“They’re brown. Like always. Now will you tell me  _what the fuck is wrong_?” 

She stood still, or at much as she could with her body still shaking from nerves. She went to speak, but only a croak made it out of her throat before she stopped. She rubbed her face with both hands, wiping the tears from her face. She held her arms out, needing him. 

“Jesus Christ, Krista, what the fuck happened?” He walks over, letting her wrap her arms around him before he reciprocated, kissing the top of her head. She suddenly just let go, letting sobs rack her body as he rubbed a hand up and down her spine, shushing her.

“What, did you have a nightmare or something?” She moved her face away from his chest to look up at him, nodding, sniffling. He smiled at her gently, kissing her forehead. “It’s alright. I’m here. It was just a dream, nothing will hurt you, I promise. I won’t let anything hurt you.” 

She laid her head back against his chest, shutting her eyes. His words would usually comfort her. Instead, they only made her anxieties worse.

* * *

 

Later that day, Dean had gone out with Roman for a run, “a human one, I promise,” leaving Seth and Sami with Krista. Seth was his usual distracted self during full moon, staring intently at the trees, which made Sami roll his eyes in frustration.

“So what got you all shook this morning? We heard you scream but Roman told us to let you be once he heard Dean with you. It’s not what we’re used to hearing at that time of night from your room, so… just curious.”

“Excuse me?!”

Sami pointed at his ears and sighed. “Hi, remember,  _not human_.”

Krista knew she should have felt embarrassed, but she instead hung her head, and shook her head. “That seems to be the issue.” 

Sami tilted his head looking at her.“Looks like you need story time with Sami.” 

Krista groaned, bringing her head up. “Yes, because your stories  _absolutely_  cheer me up, Sami.”

Sami shrugged. “I never said they’d cheer you up. They’re stories that you need to know. That’s all. So, you wanna spill what made you scream like a fucking banshee at, like, 4:30 in the morning?”

“It’s stupid.” 

“Nothing you say is stupid.”

She felt her head jerk slightly, before slowly turning to look at Sami. “You don’t know me well enough to say that.” 

“I know enough from what Dean’s told me. You’re smart, much smarter than you give yourself credit for, I imagine. He fucking adores you, Kris, and I bet you anything, he’d probably agree with me. He’s not standing over my shoulder right now, is he? I have a track record of him showing up when I’m speaking for him, you know.”

Kris smiled weakly, shaking her head. “Nah, he’s not spying on us this time.” 

Sami nodded. “Good. Now tell me.” 

Kris looked back at the floor, sighing heavily. “It’s stupid, I’m telling you. It was some silly nightmare.”

“Doesn’t seem silly if Dean was holding you while you were sobbing.” She went to speak up, and he shrugged. “Like I said, not human, I heard the crying on my own. I asked him what happened, he wouldn’t tell me, said it wasn’t anything to worry about. But it obviously was, if you were crying as hard as you were. So, spill the beans, Kris. I won’t tell Dean, I promise you. Cross my heart and all that shit.” 

She threw her hands up in the air, exasperated. “That’s the thing, Sami. I don’t know  _what_  happened. I know it was a nightmare, and I have some idea of what happened, but I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t know if I was being killed, if I was being turned, I don’t get it. I just remember blood, and trees, and howling, and Dean, and he was holding my fucking  _heart_ , and I grabbed it back from him, shoving it back in my chest, but then my body collapsed and I was outside of it watching, and then my eyes turned gold. And I woke up screaming. So I don’t know if I’m afraid of being turned, if I’m afraid of him, I don’t know Sami, I don’t know and it’s freaking me out.”

Sami nodded, biting his thumb and staring at the wall of the kitchen intently, obviously thinking of something. “I have my suspicions, but I want to talk to Roman first before I go putting any ideas in your head. But, you’re not the only one in the house to have wolf dreams, you know. I figured you’d expect that much, but I mean, while they’re not the same as what us boys have, it’s still a wolf dream. I’ve only had one nightmare in relation to it though.” 

“Was it like mine?”

“Nah. Yours was just a dream. Mine actually happened.” 

Krista nodded, acknowledging the meaning. “Your turning.” 

“Bingo. There’s not a huge backstory to it like Dean’s, nothing nearly as dramatic, but that’s what makes it worse. It’s not some huge ‘conquering adversity’ story or whatever. It literally was just shit timing on a shit day for a shit life. And I probably would be dead if it wasn’t for your boy and for Roman.

“Dean and I had gotten  _really_  shitfaced one night, we were down in Florida, which is where Roman’s family is mostly located. Dean had been visiting, he had heard about him through Seth, who we had run into with us all being Midwestern idiots. So we’re down in Florida, and Dean and I are absolutely trashed, and I decide that it’s a good idea to play in fucking traffic. I mean, he was only drinking with me because I was not in a good spot mentally. I was feeling burnt out with what I was doing for work, the woman I was madly in love with was a giant raging douchebag, and here I was, traveling like a fucking hobo with a motherfucking werewolf who was trying to kick a goddamn drug problem. Like, how in the fuck had my life turned out like this, you know? I was only like, what, 22? 

“So I decide to play in fucking traffic. Because, fuck it man, if werewolves existed, surely fucking God did, and if I wasn’t supposed to die, he wouldn’t let me die. The Dodge Ram that hit me decided otherwise, I guess.” 

Krista had grabbed herself a mug of tea, leaning against the kitchen counter listening to Sami’s story. “Jesus Sami, you got hit by a truck?” 

“Yup. Caught me just the right way too. Rib broke and punctured my lung, internal bleeding, the whole shebang. If they called a fucking ambulance, I would have died waiting for them. But instead, in some sick sense of fate, the shitstain driver ran, and Dean picked me up, and fucking  _ran_. He bolted to Roman’s, which was only about 10 minutes drive, which, you know, is a lot longer than would have been good to save my ass. So Dean fucking ran me there. He puts me down on the front steps, damn near beats down the door, and when Roman opened the door up, Dean just yells at him, ‘FIX HIM.’ 

“And Roman’s trying to talk Dean down, that he can’t do this, he won’t turn me, yadda yadda noble righteous bullshit. And so finally Dean goes and says that if Roman won’t do it, he’ll do it his fucking self. That I’m his best friend and…” Sami sighed, leaning his head backwards to stare at the ceiling. “That I’m his best friend and his brother and the only family he’s really fucking got and that he’s not losing me too.” 

Krista nods, hearing Sami sniffle a few times, knowing not to bring it up. “So who did it…Dean or Roman?” 

“Roman. He wouldn’t let Dean do it. He knew that as much as Dean wanted to save me, that he’d be too emotionally compromised to be able to shift enough to do it right, or even just to shift at all. So, Roman bit me, and with my fucking luck, it was a full moon, so I didn’t have to wait to suffer in pain like Dean did. I had it all happen at fucking once. And you know what?” 

“What, Sami.” 

“In some sick, twisted way…I didn’t die. I may not be human anymore, but fuck…I didn’t die.” 

Krista nodded, not taking Sami for being religious, and he probably wasn’t, but it still was something to contemplate: who knew what was real anymore. 

“So you have nightmares of changing?”

“Yeah. I remember going from not being able to breathe and being in severe pain and tasting blood to gasping in a large breath of air, to curling up in even worse fucking pain, and then…well…it’s hard to put into words what it’s like to see as a wolf. But every now and then, I remember the feeling of being on the brink of death, and then pain, and then…I don’t know what. So, in some way, I know what you’re going through.” 

She finished the rest of her tea silently. 

“So has he told you he loves you yet?” 

“Sami.” 

“No, I mean it. Has he told you yet. Have you told him yet?”

She looks into her mug, staring at the remnants of the tea leaf dustings placed there, wondering if she stared hard enough if she could get some message. She wasn’t sure to what question. 

“Kris.” 

“I haven’t yet.”

“But you  _do_  love him.”

“I. Yeah. Yeah, I do, and that’s part of the problem, Sami. Is that in that dream… he literally had ripped my heart out of my chest. Not figuratively, not metaphorically. Literal, gaping cavity in my chest, he’s covered in blood, holding my goddamn heart.” 

“Well at least you don’t have to worry about needing to read one of those dream interpretation books.” 

“I’m serious, Sami.”

“I am too. You’re scared shitless of telling him, you’re scared of what it could mean, you’re scared of what he could ask of you. It’s fine. It’s normal to be afraid of telling the people you love that you love them. Him being a werewolf doesn’t change that.” 

“I know Sami, but…” 

“Nope. Tell him first. Be honest with him. If I know him as well as I think I do, he’ll tell you he loves you too, and honestly mean it, and then if you have any concerns, go to Roman. He’s like, the unofficial pack leader, I guess.” 

“What other stereotypical terms do you guys use?”

“Uhm. Why?” 

“Because, I, uh… I don’t want to be considered his  _mate_. That sounds… just a bit too…” 

“Animalistic?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Who’s saying you’re his mate?” Sami smirks and winks, obviously poking fun at Krista to bring her at ease. She rolls her eyes and flips him off, and he throws his hands up in the air. 

“Alright alright alright, I will make sure that you are not called that. I agree, it sounds a bit much. I don’t understand why we can’t use the term  _girlfriend_  or  _wife_  or whatever. Just because we aren’t human, technically, doesn’t mean that we don’t pass for human. We can live our entire lives without people knowing. Why do we have to adhere to stereotypes?” 

Krista nodded, and smiled. “You know what Sami?” 

“What.” 

“Story time isn’t all that bad.”

He smiles sadly at Krista.

“You haven’t heard every story yet.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So this fic is turning into a monster, no pun intended. And to think, this started off as a one-shot on Tumblr! We're getting into the conflict real soon... I promise. Reviews are my friend. Love you all.

"So, how are things with you and Krista?"

Dean opened his eyes, having slumped against a tree to rest. Roman stood there, combing his long hair back with a hand. Roman hadn't really had a chance to talk to Dean, which Dean was thankful for in some way. He was always so serious, always talking in stereotypes, of calling them a  _pack_ , of calling them  _werewolves_ , and for some reason it made Dean bristle. Maybe this is what Roman grew up around, what he knew his entire life, but in the world that Dean came from, werewolves were horror movie monsters, and he was  _not_  a monster. He refused to call himself that, not after seeing what a real monster could do.

"Things are good… she hasn't run screaming yet. At least not from me. At least not yet."

Roman nodded, leaning against another tree, before slumping down himself onto the grass. "Yeah, what was up with the screaming? I told Seth and Sami to stay behind, and I almost ran in, but I could tell that you got to her. Everything ok?"

"Yeah, she just had a nightmare…"

Roman nodded, silently appraising Dean's demeanor. His eyes seemed shifty, and he kept sucking his bottom lip in between his teeth, chewing at the skin there. He was keeping something from him, he could tell.

"Any clues on what it's about?"

"No. But I have my suspicions."

Dean looked over to see Roman, who seemed to be just staring at him, reading him, and it made him angry. He knew a lot of it was the moon at its strongest, the fullest illumination, but he couldn't help but snap.

"Enough with the silent bullshit. If you have a question, if you have something to say, just fucking ask it, I don't have the patience for this right now Roman."

"Fine. What do you think it was about?"

"I think she's fucking scared and is too noble or caring or whatever to tell me."

"That could be it." Roman sighed, cracking his neck, before continuing. "Listen, Dean, you've got to think realistically about this. She's had less than a week to become accustomed to the fact that you're a -"

"Don't you fucking say it."

"- a fucking  _werewolf_. And you're going to have to get used to being called that,  _because that is what you are._  It's what we all are. And the more you deny what you are, the more you try to brush it aside, the worse it's going to get for you. We are werewolves. We are a pack. You're going to have to get over your little issue about stereotypes real quick if you want to help Krista adjust to this, or else she's going to be just as clueless about this shit like you were when Seth told me about you."

"I was  _clueless_  because I was changed, and I was only changed because I didn't fucking  _die_. You got it so fucking easy, Roman, you know that? You grew up in a whole goddamn family of them, you knew what was happening to you when your body decided to feel like it was ripping apart, when your organs felt like they were on fire, when you felt your heart stop beating, and then ripping, shredding pain. Or did you not have that either, because I bet they coached you on how to shift without any hesitation, how to just let it roll over you, huh?

"Well, I didn't get that chance, ok? You know that, so don't you fucking  _dare_  try to talk to me about getting over this, because I will never get over this. That jackass ruined  _everything_  and it was nice pretending to be human for just a little bit longer, ok? Just…just let me have that. Please."

Roman leaned forward, his hair falling to surround his face like a hood. It was rare when he ever had to assert some sort of leadership role, he usually made sure that everyone had a say, that everyone could care for themselves, but enough was enough. If Dean wanted to play hardball, he'd play right along with him.

"Spare me the sob story, Dean. I've heard it already. And you know what, yeah, shit happens, and I'm sorry you had to have it happen to you the way it did, but look at the life you have now. Or would you rather be 'normal' and living in that shithole in Cincinnati with your mother? Would you rather still be on all of those drugs that polluted your system? Would you rather risk bleeding out in some fucking alley? Or would you rather be happy, healthy, and surrounded by people who love you? We all had to fucking sacrifice something, Dean, and if your idea of what being a human means is what you had to sacrifice, then you got out much fucking easier than the rest of us."

"And what the fuck did you have to sacrifice Roman? Please. Enlighten me."

"Any sense of individuality. You have no idea what it's like to grow up in an entire family of people with the same shit as you, they have these expectations of you, to lead the pack, to take a mate -"

Dean groaned, hiding his face in his hands. "Please, please don't use that word. Ever.  _Ever again_."

Roman shrugged, "I'll give you that one. But yeah, just this heavy ass expectation resting on your shoulders, that you have to follow this family path that you didn't ask to be put on, but it seems to be the only thing you know, and everything else just doesn't result the way you want it. Why do you think I left?

"But you gotta know when to let shit go, Dean. And you can't help Krista if you can't do that. I understand your anger, man, I do. But you gotta know when to just ignore it and move on, or else you're never going to be able to be honest with Krista. You love her, man, we all see it. And the more you hold onto this fear about hurting her, this fear of her calling you a monster, the more it's going to drive a wedge between the two of you." He holds up a hand to stop Dean from interrupting. "It may not be happening now, but it  _could_ , and that's what you have to avoid. So, be honest, be open, and learn to just accept some shit and let some shit go."

Roman pushed himself off of the ground, dusting himself off quickly before extending a hand to Dean. "Come on, we should go rest up and eat before tonight." Dean looked at Roman's hand before grabbing it, pulling himself up. He went to start walking back, when he realized Roman hadn't let go of his hand.

"What is it?"

"Listen. You're my brother, and I love you. I only am hard on you because I know you can handle it. Plus, you were being a bit of a whiny bitch. But I mean what I said. You're going to have to get over a lot of your issues with you being what you are, or else you'll never be able to make Krista comfortable with it. You love her, and from what I can see, she adores the ever-loving hell out of you. And if you two are going to make this last, because I can see how you two are with each other, you're going to have to make some serious adjustments, or else you could lose her. And I know we agreed to not use the term but…"

"But what."

"She might be, y'know… I mean, it's up to you to decide, but she seems to fit that criteria."

"If you are insinuating what I think you are, yeah, it's up for me to decide, but uhm… you might be onto something."

Roman laughed, smiling while he pulled Dean in for a hug, leaning his head against Dean's in some symbol of closeness and connection. "Alright, I'm starving and your girl can throw down a mean steak, let's go."

* * *

Krista had taken the time to cook lunch, laughing when Seth grabbed her face and kissed her cheek, which was replied to with a fake-angry "hey! Get your paws off of her!" from Dean. The boys all ate quickly, Krista having chosen to wait to eat later when they all went out. As seemed to be the ritual at this point, after food came sex, and the minute the door had shut, it was Krista who made the move, desperately grabbing at Dean's belt, fumbling with the buckle in her rush to get his pants off.

"Whoa, hey, I'm not arguing, but calm down, it's not like it's gonna disappear."

"I just really want you right now."

Dean chuckled, running a hand down Krista's hair, twirling some of the ends between his fingers. "And just how badly do you want me?"

He was answered by her undoing his jeans, letting them drop to the floor before she sucked him into her mouth. He felt his head hit the door, his fingers clench in her hair, a whispered " _fuck_ " dripping from his lips. He thrust shallowly into her mouth a few times, before pulling on her hair enough to get her to move off of him. "You. Bed. Now."

She nodded, wiping at her mouth. "Can I be on top?"

He groaned, pulling her up to her feet, before pulling her in for a kiss, deep, stealing air from her lungs. He broke the kiss, moving his lips to her forehead, muttering against her skin, "god I fucking love you."

He felt her body freeze and he moved his lips away, looking down at her. "What?"

"You… you said…"

"…Yeah? You said it first."

"…When did I say it first?"

"After I made you cum so hard that you nearly passed out… you said it just before you fell asleep. It was cute." He smirked, but soon realized that now was not the time to be joking. "Hey, no, look at me." He lifted her chin with a finger, looking directly into her eyes. "I like that you felt so comfortable and relaxed with me that you said it like that. You didn't feel some big pressure to be all formal with it, which took the pressure off of me, I hope you know. I don't ever want you to feel uncomfortable around me. Alright?"

"Ok…can you say it again?"

"Say what? I love you?"

Her face lit up, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, "don't ever stop saying that."

He grinned, picking her up, allowing her to wrap her legs around his waist, and kissed her gently. "I don't plan on it…now what was this about you riding me?"

She laughed into his neck, and moved back to look at him. "Put me down and we can absolutely make that happen."

* * *

Dean knew he should have gotten some rest in before the run that night, but he couldn't help but watch her sleep. She was lying on her stomach, her hair tangled from sweat and his fingers gripping at it, the sheet low against her back. He watched the pink and orange of the sunset glow off of her skin, and he gently traced a finger down the length of her spine, smiling to himself when she shifted positions in her sleep, muffled noises of irritation grumbling forth.

She had been so wild, in the good way, the way that she tangled her fingers in his as she had ridden him, how she rolled her hips and clenched tightly around him, how she'd bring his hands to her breasts, and how she would lean over to kiss and bite at his neck. It was almost as if the moon woke something up under her skin as well, and he knew his brain was placing images in his mind when he thought her eyes had turned gold when she looked down at him from on top.

What Roman had said was eating at him. He wouldn't change her, and he knew that's not what Roman was asking of him, but he knew that it was what usually happened. Or, at least, that's what he was told. He was in love with Krista, he knew that much, but was he ready for the level of commitment that Roman was asking?

He sighed, watching her, wondering what her dreams were of, what was in her nightmare that made her wake up screaming, asking about her eyes. He had an idea, which was another reason why he was so unsure of what Roman had suggested. How could he ask that of her, to be  _his_ , when she was having nightmares of becoming like them?

He was woken from his thoughts by a tapping against his chest, which turned into fingers gently clawing at the hair there. "Earth to Dean… you think too loud."

He smiled, kissing her on her forehead. "Welcome back, sleepy head."

"I did a lot of work, thank you."

"That you did… it's almost time, you know. You wanna go see the boys before we go off?"

"Yeah… can I watch? I'm curious. I just wanna see, for real, since last time I covered my eyes…"

Dean bit his bottom lip between his teeth again, sighing. He chewed at his lip gently, thinking for a moment, before shrugging. "Sure. I don't see why not."

She smiled, before nuzzling her face into the hair on his chest.

* * *

The time had come, and Dean stepped outside, wearing nothing but the jeans again, Krista following behind in pajamas and a sweatshirt. Sami was the first one to notice her, and waved at her, drawing Roman and Seth's attention to her. Seth bounded over, picking Krista up in a hug, putting her down after she swatted at his arm a few times.

Roman walked over, nodding at Dean, a silent affirmation of whatever progress this may have been. "Come to see us off?"

"Yeah. I asked Dean if it was ok, I wanted to watch for real this time. I kind of wussed out last time, which, I'm sure you guys think is understandable."

Roman chuckled, nodding. "I don't blame you, baby girl. You're gonna have to come into the trees a bit more though, is that ok?"

She nodded, looking over at Dean. "Whatever I have to do."

Dean smiled back, although the back of his mind was nothing but echoes of her screaming awake, and the thought of that flash of gold in her eyes.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: We're almost done with the flashback! And, if you've been paying attention, there is a major callback to chapter 1 in this. A thing has been done!
> 
> Since we're heading into fall & the Halloween season, I'm deciding to share my love for Halloween with you all! Over at my tumblr, I'm taking requests and prompts for what is currently being called the Hexy Halloween Fanfic Spectacular. I will be writing one-shots that are based upon autumn and/or Halloween, and they will be posted the entirety of October. I'm taking them now, so in between school (which starts up next week), my new job (which also starts up next week), and these other fics, I can get them done in a timely manner. There will definitely be a story or two in the Howl universe, as well as one from Dakhanavar, my vampire!Seth verse! So if you want to send some cutesy or smutty or silly prompts, go on over to my Tumblr (username is the same) and send them in!
> 
> Reviews are always welcome, and as always, thank you for loving my silly werewolf story :)

They had hung around in the woods for a bit, talking and explaining to Krista more in detail what would happen, but when the sky had finally turned dark with just the glow of the stars and moon above them, Krista knew that she paled in comparison at that moment.

She watched in silent amazement at how Sami and Seth went first, Seth shifting silently, Sami gritting out an obscenity or twelve before it turned into growls. Dean looked back at Krista and winked, waiting until she blew a kiss at him before he shifted, probably one of the least painful ones of his experience, since he didn't have anything to fear in that moment.

Soon there stood three wolves, two black and one the golden brown she recognized as Dean, looking patiently at Roman. Roman shooed them off, as if to say he'd catch up with them in a few. Sami and Seth padded off deeper into the thicket, with Dean hanging back, firm in his stance. Roman rolled his eyes, and shooed Dean off, yelling, "I'll be there in a minute!" Dean huffed and started to walk away, pausing to look back once more, before running into the woods after Seth and Sami.

"Hey, Kris… I had to wait for the boys to run off,  _especially_  Dean…but we need to talk. Nothing bad, I promise. Just… tomorrow? You and I. We need to chat." Roman smiled at Krista, his grey eyes slowly turning gold.

"Yeah, no worries Rome. We'll talk later. Go run, I can see it in your eyes." She smiled, kicking her legs from the low tree branch she had perched herself on. She waved at him as he jokingly saluted her.

"Get your ass inside, Dean'll kill me if anything happens to you. Go straight home, I fucking mean it!"

She laughed, hopping down off the tree, heading back towards the house.

"Keep an eye on him, Rome!"

"I ain't worried about him, I'm worried about you!"

* * *

The following morning, Krista once more found herself sneaking out of bed, leaving a murmuring Dean to grab her pillow and wrap his arms around it, nuzzling into the part where her hair had rested. She realized, her stomach doing a flip at the thought, that he smelled her. It was strangely adorable coming from him.

She tossed on jeans and a hoodie, not anything special, but as she crept downstairs, she saw Roman waiting for her as if he were going out. "You up for pancakes?"

"God, breakfast sounds like a plan right now."

As they closed the door behind them, Roman put his hands in the pockets of his jacket, reaching for his car keys and his phone. He bent his neck back and forth, sighing with content as a rewarding pop came from one bend. He reached the passenger side door of his SUV and opened it up for Krista, motioning for her to get inside. He got in on his own side after closing the door once she was seated, turning the vehicle around before making their way down the long driveway towards the main road.

"I figured we could get started talking in the car, since it's not that long of a drive, and some of the major stuff probably shouldn't be said in public…but I don't want Dean to hear it either."

"What  _is_  it, Rome? You make it seem like it's big top-secret werewolf stuff… wait…  _is it big top-secret werewolf stuff?_ "

Roman stopped in the middle of the driveway, and looked at Krista. "Kris. I know you haven't had coffee yet, but think about what you just asked."

"That  _was_  a bit of a redundant question, huh… top-secret and werewolf…"

"Exactly. But, no, it's not 'top-secret werewolf stuff.' It  _is_  werewolf stuff though. Werewolf stuff that you have every right to know about."

Krista nodded, watching Roman as he drove down the rest of the driveway, before she paid attention to fiddling with the iPod hookup in the console. She clicked down the menu before finding a song, placing the iPod in one of the cup-holders between the seats. She stretched in a yawn, and sort of snuggled herself down into her hoodie a bit more.

"So, before we hit up wherever we're going for pancakes, you should probably get on that werewolf stuff. What's up? And why don't you want Dean to know?"

"Because it involves your relationship with him."

Krista looked out the passenger side window, the pale sky showing that the sun had just barely hit the top of the trees. It was early,  _very_  early, almost  _too_  early to be having a conversation like this.

"Krista. Look at me."

She turned her head at Roman, noting the seriousness in his tone by the use of her full name.

"I like you, ok? All of us, we like you a lot, and I'm sure you've heard it from the other two… Dean has  _never_  told anyone he was seeing about what he is, what we are. Hell, we've never really met any of his other girlfriends. You're the first we've met. You're the first he's told. That means a lot."

"I know, Rome. You, Seth, Sami… you all have said the same thing. We've been together for about six or seven months now, he said you guys were bugging him about me, and what I'm getting from you guys is that he doesn't ever let relationships last that long either. So, yeah, I guess I'm different. Is this the part where I get the ' _be careful don't hurt him_ ' speech?"

"No. This is about what may be expected of you."

"…expected of me?"

The car stopped at one of the few red lights on the expanse of road they were traveling, and Roman took the moment to look over at Krista. "Yes. Expected of you. I know that you are still really new to this, and that's fine. But that's why we're having this conversation, so you know what's up. Dean really likes you, ok? And from what he's told me, he's actually even said he loves you. Which, if you aren't aware, is huge for him. Massively huge. The fact that he feels comfortable enough around you to not only admit that he loves you, but to tell you this huge secret about himself, and introduce you to us, means he's thinking things, things he may not want to admit to.  _Big_  things."

Krista leaned back in the seat of the truck. "What…like marriage?"

Roman laughed, looking straight to see the light having turned green. He continued driving, flicking his eyes over to her every now and then. "No, not marriage, Kris. At least, not that I'm aware of. But, uhm…you know how he hates the stereotypical terms and all that, right? I'm sure Seth gave you that warning."

"Yeah, and so did Sami."

"Well, there's one term that really gets under his skin."

"You mean  _werewolf_?"

"No.  _Mate_."

Krista let out a groan, hiding her face in the sleeves of her hoodie. "He's not the only one who hates that term."

"I'm sorry, you're going to have to speak up, that was muffled."

She dragged her hands down her face, looking over to Roman. "I said, he's not the only one who hates that term. I was just saying to Sami that the term gave me the willies."

"Why? Because of what it means?"

"I know you guys are werewolves, but… god it sounds just a tad bit too animalistic for me."

"Yes, I completely understand that, and that's why Dean doesn't like it either, but unfortunately for the both of you, it is its own designation. You can be mates without being married, and you can be married without being mates. It's happened before. People get remarried, people don't ever get married, these things happen. But it's a level of dedication and devotion that supersedes being just a significant other or a spouse. It doesn't even have to do with having children, if that's a choice you ever decide to make.

"It's an understanding. It's knowing what he needs even before he needs it, of knowing when it's the man or the animal speaking, of being able to be that stability, that humanity, that balance for him when he can't find it in himself. You seem to be that for him, Kris. I'm just hoping you understand that, because if he brings it up to you, I don't want you to go running screaming. He loves you. A  _lot_. And if he gets up the balls to bring it up to you, I want you to be ready."

Roman signaled that he was taking a left turn, and after waiting for a few cars to pass, pulled into a parking lot for a tiny diner, one that advertised ice cream during the summer, and played music from the 1950s and 1960s from old speakers in the parking lot. He parked the car and looked over to Krista again, turning in the seat.

"Listen, it sounds like a lot of responsibility, I know. It sounds a lot scarier than it is. But you're sort of filling the spot now, but there's a sort of, well…I don't want to call it a  _ritual_  because it's not, it's nothing like that really, but it's the only word I can bring to mind right now because it's early and I haven't had coffee or food yet. But I want you to be aware of what it is, in case he does bring it up and you decide to do it."

Krista nodded, her hands shoved in the front pocket of her hoodie, thumbs twiddling with each other.

"Kris. I'm being dead serious right now. I want you to know what you're getting into if you decide to do it, if he decides to bring it up."

"Alright, Rome, what is it."

"He has to bite you."

"THE FUCK HE DOES." She could feel her heart skip a beat at the memory of her dream, her eyes turning gold in front of her, the sight of Dean holding her bloody heart, his mouth covered as if he had eaten it.

"No no no no, Kris, listen. I'm not saying he has to  _change_  you. He'd have to be full wolf to do that, and he'd never do that to you, not even if you begged him. Hell, he barely had it in him to attempt to change Sami, which is why I took that over before he got himself sick halfway through the shift. What I'm saying is that he has to bite you."

"Alright. Explain this to me. Because I'm confused. Doesn't him biting me means he's changing me?"

"That's if he's a wolf."

"…so he has to bite me as a human? You realize that's a really popular thing in sex, right…"

"Kris. Please."

She held her hands up, shrugging. "Sorry…go on."

"Yes, he has to bite you as a human. Yes, it's a popular sex thing. But here's the thing, Kris. It has to be on full moon. And, well, the other part is kind of hard to explain."

"Does he have to be fucking me while doing it?"

"KRIS."

"I'M SORRY."

"Ugh, he  _doesn't_ , but that's usually how it happens. Just, you both will know when it's the right time, as god awfully cheesy and stereotypical as that sounds. That's what I mean by people getting married without being mates, or people being mates without being married. You may be married to someone for 20 years, but if you don't ever have that moment of just  _knowing_ , of having that complete connection, then what's the point. But like I said, this is if he even brings it up. Knowing him, he'll clam up about it because he still gets twitchy over calling us a  _pack_."

"Do you blame him, Rome?"

"No. I don't. Not really."

* * *

Breakfast consisted of homefries - "they're good, but not as good as yours, Kris." "Stop flattering me." - eggs, steak, pancakes, and never ending mugs of coffee. By the time they had left both of their wallets were lighter, both stomachs were fuller, and the parking lot was significantly more packed.

"Looks like we came at a good time."

"Yeah, we've been coming here for a few years, Dean's the last one to really make his way up here. He hates New England. He generally hates the cold, actually. So when he stuck around here, we knew something was up."

"Please, I know you mean well, but stop."

"What."

"Please stop advertising how much he obviously feels about me, because I feel like you're guilting me into doing this."

"Kris, I'm not trying to guilt you into anything."

"Then why do I feel that you're expecting Dean to ask me to be his, ugh god,  _mate_ , and expecting me to just willingly fall into his arms, damn near begging for it?"

"Kris, I was just giving you a warning."

"For a conversation that may not even be had this week, let alone this year, let alone ever. You said it yourself, if the feeling isn't there, then it isn't there. Putting these thoughts into my head of how special I am and how much I mean to him…"

"…what?"

"…it feels nice, ok? It's nice to feel wanted like that, to feel appreciated like that. I'm not used to it, Rome. I'm not used to it at all. My life never worked like that. I'd have a few dates at a bar; I'd go home to my apartment, and watch trashy television while working on assignments for night classes, or finishing up work that I brought home from the office. It just so happened that my blind date stood me up at the bar that Dean and who I now know was Sami were at that night. It was pure dumb luck that we ran into each other, and now here I am, not even a year later, being told about how he loves me so much that he admits to me that  _he's not human_ , and how his brothers aren't either, and now I'm being told essentially to expect the werewolf version of a proposal."

"Kris, the way you're talking, you're making it seem like I'm not guilting you at all. In fact, it sounds like you're projecting. So be honest with me. It's the least I can ask, we've been honest with you."

"We'll talk about it in the car."

She slammed the door to the SUV, crossing her arms, looking out the passenger side window as she heard Roman get in, starting the vehicle up, before backing out of the spot and pulling out onto the main road.

"Kris. Come on."

"I'm freaking out here, Rome."

"Why?"

" _Why?!_  A week ago, I was a regular working-woman living in the city, who barely talked to her parents, who tried to go to school to get a new career, and was dating a wonderfully  _normal_  guy who didn't expect big scenes of devotion. He didn't really care overly about looking like he stepped off of a runway, he was ok with having cheap beer and buffalo wings at a dive bar and not eating at some fancy bar downtown, and he made me laugh."

"And what's changed?"

"Nothing. Except for the fact that he turns into a fucking wolf when it's the full moon."

"Well, we can turn whenever, it's just -"

"Roman. Please."

Roman took the hint, remaining silent.

"It's just… and take no offense to this, but I feel like the last bit of normalcy I had went out of the window. And yet, it's that very distinctly  _un_ -normal thing that's making me feel like life has never been more interesting. You know I actually contemplated seeing if I could work from home, so I could stay at the house with you guys? The thought of waking up every day next to him? The thought of cooking you guys food for when you came in from a run? It felt…nice."

"I never took you for a domestic type, Kris."

"I'm  _not_. And that's what's frightening. Not the werewolf thing. It's the fact that I can honestly see myself playing the wife role, even without the ring or legal benefits. Being that other half. It… it's really disturbing to me at how comfortable I am with filling into that role. No one else has ever made me feel like that."

"So what's so scary about that? Shouldn't you be happy about that? You know that Dean would never ask you to sacrifice your independence or anything."

"I know that. I'm not scared about losing my independence. I'm scared that if he asked me today, I'd say yes without even thinking twice. I'm scared at how willing I am to do that for him, willing to do almost anything for him."

"…does this have to do with that nightmare Dean said you had?"

"Rome…I dreamed I was surrounded by wolves. With Dean holding my heart, literally, in his hands. He was covered in blood. My chest was ripped open. And when I grabbed the heart back to shove it in my chest, my breathing stopped, and I saw my eyes turn gold."

"You're afraid of being changed."

"I'm afraid that I'd ask to be."


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: And here we are, the final chapter of the flashback! The last part of this will be back to the timeline from Chapters 1, 2, and the beginning of 3. Also, this chapter is really important to me, for very personal reasons, so, please, feel free to let me know in the comments or over at Tumblr what you think. I'd really appreciate it. As always, reviews make me a happy Rae, and I'm still accepting prompts for the Hexy Halloween fanfic special over at Tumblr.

Krista closed the door to the bedroom behind her as quietly as possible, seeing the small strip of sunlight through the blinds streak across what was her side of the bed. Dean had shifted so his arm was laid out over where she would usually lay down. She toed her shoes off, and got down to just her tank top and panties, and tried to slip into bed as gently as she could, so as to not wake Dean. She managed to raise his arm enough to slide into the bed, placing his arm back down across her. Just as she put her head on the pillow, she felt his arm wrap around her and pull her towards him, hearing her taking a huge whiff of her hair.

"You smell like maple syrup."

"I do?"

"Yeah. You had pancakes. You had pancakes without me." He nuzzled his face into her hair more, taking another deep sniff, humming to himself.

She smiled, laughing silently. "I'm sorry baby, I didn't know I couldn't have pancakes without you."

"Nope. Now I want pancakes. Damnit."

"Go back to bed baby, I will make you pancakes later."

"No, 'm hungry now."

"You're half asleep."

"Maybe I'll eat you instead."

He pretended to start gnawing at her shoulder, making exaggerated noises, sleep making his actions just that little bit more ridiculous. When Krista felt a scrape of teeth, she froze, and quickly caught herself, swatting at his head.

"Shhh. Go back to sleep. I'll make you pancakes later."

"Hmph. Fine. Love you."

Her insides twisted, her heart doing a strange flutter, but her brain screaming at her. She loved him back, she knew that, she had told him that, but Roman's conversation weighed heavily in the back of her mind.

"Love you too."

* * *

"So uh… why'd you have pancakes? And with who?"

Dean had gotten halfway through his plate of food that Krista had made him, before looking up to see Krista appear as if she were distracted. When she didn't immediately answer, he snapped his fingers.

"Hey… earth to Kris… what happened?"

"Oh, uh. Roman and I went to grab breakfast."

"Really now? Seems like you got some good bonding time in with the brothers. Go ahead, you can tell me, I'll keep a secret… who's your favorite? I bet it's Sami, huh."

He gave her one of those cheesy grins of his, before taking another large bite of pancake.

"Well, yeah, it was bonding time, I guess. He wanted to talk to me about stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Well, to quote him, 'werewolf stuff'."

She saw him flinch at the word. "Hey, nope, don't do that. I know you don't like the word, everyone gave me the warning, but it, uh… it's what you are. And if I'm gonna have to learn to be comfortable with the word, you gotta be too. You're the one who changes and all…"

"I ain't ever gonna be comfortable with that word, Kris."

"You should be, though. For your own sake. For my sake…"

Dean could tell she wanted to say more, but was trailing off because she wasn't sure how to approach it. He decided now wasn't the time. He finished his pancakes, took a final swig of his coffee.

"Come on, let's go upstairs, and we'll talk."

* * *

"He said  _what_."

"He was explaining the whole… eugh,  _god_ , mating thing. Why do I feel like I'm stuck in National Geographic right now."

" _Hey now_."

"…sorry. No, but like, he explains what it is, and that it just sort of  _seems_  like we're on that path, and then I told him that I felt like he was guilting me into it, he said it could be potentially  _expected_  of me-"

"Fucking WHAT DID HE SAY?"

"Let me finish! And he sort of explained how it would happen, and kept talking about how different I am and that he just wanted me to know what it entailed in case it was ever brought up and-"

"And he didn't trust me to tell you that info if it ever came up?"

"I don't know, babe. But we kind of got into it in the car. I told him that I was freaking out about it and-"

He held up a hand to stop her, clenching it into a fist slowly in irritation.

"Why were you freaking out? Was it about us? Was it about me being a…  _fuck_ , a werewolf." He gritted out the last word, as if it left a sour taste in his mouth, as if it pained him to say.

"Well, kind of, but -"

"But nothing. I knew I shouldn't have listened to them. They rushed me into telling you, and now Roman's dropping  _this_  shit on you,  _without telling me, without trusting me_ , and just…fuck."

Dean stopped his pacing momentarily to look straight at Krista, as if he were going to say something, and instead turned around towards the door.

"Roman and I are going to have a  _nice fucking chat_."

"Dean, wait. Please. Before you go and say anything, just. Just wait."

Dean had made his way to the door and had his hand on the handle but stopped, his shoulders tense, before he let out a sigh and turned from the door.

"Fine. What is it, Kris."

"Yeah, I'm freaking out about the wolf thing, but not like how you think. I mean, it's been a few days, shit, almost a week, and I'm starting to see certain obvious traits that I missed before, and I'm ok. I mean, not  _used_  to it, not yet, not fully, shit  _you_  aren't even used to it yet, but I'll get there. I'm just freaking out because…"

"Because what."

"Because I'm stupidly comfortable with you. It's weird. The first person I'm truly comfortable enough around to apparently say that I love them  _in my sleep_  isn't…well, isn't  _human_. It's weird for me, because I don't know what that says about me. That I feel more comfortable around…"

"Around an animal."

She winced when she heard the bitterness in the way he said it. "…I guess?"

"Kris. It's not like I'm fucking you as a wolf."

"Oh my fucking god we are  _not_  having this conversation right now, nope, not happening, sorry."

Dean walked back over towards the bed, sitting down next to Krista. "No, we need to. You're uncomfortable because you think it means you're into really weird shit, huh."

"It's not 'normal' to fuck a werewolf."

"Kris,  _you're not fucking me in wolf form._ "

"Yeah but-"

"Krista. What, do you think it's bestiality or something?"

She quickly stood up and started pacing, her hand in her face. "I cannot believe we are having this conversation."

"Well, we sort of fucking have to, especially if you're getting freaked out about the fact that I go furry every now and then, because I don't want you to think it's some big fucking taboo  _to have_   _sex with your boyfriend_."

Krista turned, looking at Dean. "Oh no. You don't get to turn this on me. If you're going to be angry with anyone, go be angry with Roman like you wanted to be. Don't you dare get fucking mad at me for feeling weird because of how he used a term like  _mating_ , making it sound like you guys are goddamn animals. I'm sorry Dean, honestly, I really am. But please don't be mad at me for what Roman did."

"Oh, I'm sorry, you're the one who said you felt like you were in a National Geographic special. You're the one who is freaked out by being in love with someone who's not human. Roman didn't make you think that  _fucking me_  is equal to  _bestiality_. That's a thought you had  _all on your own_. So, please, go ahead, be honest with me, because that seems to be the fucking theme this week. I'm honest with you, against my better judgment, about what the fuck I am, and you decide to tell me  _after_ _the fact_  and  _after_  you tell me you love me, that you're afraid that... ugh, no, fuck this."

He got up from the bed, walking back over to the door, opening it harshly.

"I'm sorry Dean, but-"

"'But' nothing, Krista."

Krista sighed as the door slammed shut, wanting to cry or scream or maybe both. Instead she crawled under the blankets on the bed, cocooning herself, wondering if it was worth it to go after Dean.

* * *

Roman could tell Dean was behind him before Dean had even said anything. "If you're going to talk to me, I suggest you take this somewhere more private, Dean, unless you want the rest of your brothers to hear this."

"Wow, what a surprise, you didn't call them the pack. How fucking  _courteous_  of you."

Roman sucked his teeth, before chuckling to himself, still staring out at the trees, sitting on the steps leading from the back porch down towards the yard and the woods. "I'd ask who shat in your cornflakes, but I think I know the answer to that. I take it Kris told you about our conversation this morning?"

"Yeah. She did. And who the fuck do you think you are, exactly, to be having that conversation with her, Rome?"

"Your friend. Your brother."

"Cut the bullshit. You know you had no fucking place to tell her that shit. It's been a fucking week, Roman, that she's known about this, fuck, not even a fucking week. It's been six months that her and I have been together, she just fucking told me she loved me two or three days ago, and you go and drop, fucking…  _fuck,_  the mate thing on her? What is your fucking malfunction?"

"I'm proud of you for not twitching when saying the word 'mate.'"

"Roman, I swear to fucking  _god,_  now is not the time to be a sarcastic shit to me."

"Oh, I'm sorry, do you not like that?"

Dean's eyes widened at that.

"Dean, before you go and do something stupid, will you sit the fuck down."

"No, fuck this, I'm not having you fucking talking down to me again. You've always done this shit; you've always come in and try to make me seem like I need help, like I'm this unstable fucking stray that you stumbled across in some back alley. I came to  _you_ , only on the insistence of Seth. Everything I've ever fucking done has been for you guys. I came up here,  _when you know I hate the fucking cold_ , because this is where you all decided to shack up, for some stupid fucking reason. And I told Krista what I am, what we all are, all on your insistence. And now, she's worried that fucking me constitutes  _bestiality_ , and you telling her about fucking  _mating_  didn't help that goddamn problem Roman, so, no, I don't feel like sitting down and being fucking lectured by you."

"Oh, so suddenly this is all of my fault."

"Well, whose fault  _is_  it then?"

"Goddamnit Dean, why the fuck do you always have to blame shit on people. Maybe shit just  _happens_. Did that ever fucking come across your thoughts, just once?"

"Oh, I'm sorry Roman, I forgot you don't like being blamed for shit, can't let your precious heritage down. Because, you know, you have to follow the rules and do everything the way your family does, god fucking  _forbid_  you fuck up there."

"Dean, if you value your life, you'll be quiet."

"Oh, like how you stayed quiet talking to Kris about her relationship with me? I'd tell you to focus on your own relationship and mate situation, but  _you don't have one_  because, oh look,  _you fucked that up._ "

Roman stood up, walking over to Dean, and got right in his face. "Boy, you're asking for me to punch you right in the fucking mouth."

"Yeah, ok, sure thing Uce, go right the fuck ahead." He motioned for Roman to come and try it.

Dean didn't expect Roman to actually punch him in the mouth.

The taste of blood in his mouth spurred Dean to catch Roman in the face hard enough to lead to what would become a black eye. Soon they found themselves fighting full on, punches and scrapes and scratches and bites leaving them both in pain, worse for wear, and sporting bruises and bloodied mouths, glaring at each other. Dean spit out a mouthful of blood, holding his ribs.

"You're such a fucking asshole, Roman."

"Takes one to know one."

"No, really, you're a dick, you know that? You make me tell Krista what we are, and then you spring all of that information on her. It's like you fucking knew she'd freak out. Why…" He coughed, wincing at the pain in his side. "Why would you fucking do that, if you're my  _brother_?"

"Had to test her, man."

"If I didn't think my knuckles were broken, I'd punch you in the dick for that."

"Listen man, we all like her. We like her a fucking lot. I just wanted her to know what she could be getting herself into, ok? I meant fucking well, and deep down, you fucking know that."

"No, Rome. Sometimes, good intentions make shit fucking worse. Because it's like you didn't trust me to tell her when I felt it was a good time. Like, god, I wanted her to be eased into this life a lot fucking easier than I was, man. I was trying to protect her."

"If it were up to you, she would never have known."

"And that's a problem I would have handled on my own time, Rome."

They were both silent for a few minutes, both trying to regain breathing and deal with the pain. Roman got up slowly, and headed towards the stairs, to head down to the woods.

"And where in the fuck are you going?"

"To go shift and then shift back. It'll fix everything. Plus, get some of that last anger out. You wanna go?"

"Nah man. I don't use this shit as a crutch."

"Trying to hold on tightly to being a human, I see. Is that why you didn't want to tell Kris?"

"Man, fuck you."

"Fine, I'm sorry, ok? Is that what you want to hear? I'm sorry that I had enough faith in your relationship with Kris, and got a good read on her, that I thought she should know something that is potentially in her future? I see how you look at her, man, she's  _it_  for you, I can tell. Just, just fucking humor me, do you get that vibe from her? Do you see her as being your mate?"

Dean did. He knew he did, it bothered him that Roman could tell this shit so easily, but he wouldn't give him that satisfaction. Instead he pulled himself up, arm still wrapped around his midsection, and spit more blood out.

"Wouldn't you love to fucking know."

* * *

Krista didn't remember falling asleep, but the sound of Dean stumbling into the room, muttering to himself, knocking things over in his path, is what woke her up. She rolled over, expecting to see him still angry, but instead she found him bloodied, bruised, and looking almost upset.

"Dean, what the fuck."

"Don't worry about it. Just,  _fuck_ , we're heading home. Rome and I had it out. I don't wanna be here anymore. You gotta head back soon for work anyway."

Krista nodded, getting out of the bed slowly, watching Dean wince when he tried to stand up.

"Shit, babe, you should go to a doctor."

"Nah, I'll be ok, we heal quick. Quicker if I shift, but, nah, this was for a good reason, I wanna feel the hurt a little bit, as weird as that sounds."

"I hope this wasn't about me." She made her way over to Dean, brushing some of his hair out of his eyes, the sweat mixing with some blood at his temple.

"It was. Kind of. Mostly. Don't worry about it. Just get dressed and grab the shit you need, we'll keep the rest of the stuff here. And uh…is it cool if you drive?"

She rolled her eyes, grabbing the keys off of the nightstand. "Yeah, it's fine. You're a mess, you know that?"

He smiled, face cringing slightly at a wave of pain through his back as he stood up a bit straighter. "Yeah. I know. You love me though."

"Yeah. I do. Damn it all."

* * *

Krista sighed, going to scratch at an itch on her shoulder, when she pulled her hand back in pain.

Suddenly the events of the night flashed back at once in her brain. She touched her shoulder again gently, feeling the dried blood and the ridges where her skin had broken under Dean's teeth. The feel of the bite made some strange turn in her organs, as if something inside her that was decidedly not there before woke up, that it twisted within her. It tickled, almost like fur.  _Oh no_.

"Uhm...babe?"

"Yeah?" Dean had his eyes closed, still playing with her hair, enjoying the feel of her body against his.

"We need to talk."

"We're talking now, aren't we?"

"Yeah, but I mean, we need to  _talk_."

"What about babe, can it wait, this is just really nice right now."

"I don't think it can wait."

Dean sighed, but continued to play with her hair. "Krista, just tell me what it is."

He felt her hand grab his, pausing the twirling of her hair, and moved his hand towards her shoulder. Where he bit.

"What is it babe?"

"Dean...you  _bit_  me."

He looked down at her, confused for a split second before realization dawning on his face. He looked at her eyes, really deeply, and he wasn't sure what he saw, but something looked different in them...something not entirely human. She wasn't changed, but something had passed between them, through that bite.

"I think... I think I'm your mate now."


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Welcome to what I like to imagine as the second season of Howl. It's easier to think of it in seasons or arcs, because we're reaching a second plot point just about now. So if the first 10 chapters were a season, I'd say the theme song for that season was Florence + The Machine "Howl", which is where this story gets its title from. The theme for this season would be "Feral Love" by Chelsea Wolfe. I appreciate all of the love and support you guys have given me with this story, reading snippets to give me feed back, expressing concerns or potential plot points in the comments, or just giving it love. Seriously, you guys, that makes me so happy, you have no idea. I hope this doesn't go into a second-season slump, that'd suck, considering this is the calm before the storm. And that's the only spoiler you'll ever get from me. Without further ado...

“Awww, _fuck_.”

Dean looked at the bite on Krista’s shoulder, grimacing at it This was not how he imagined the evening - shit, early morning - going. He looked over at the window and saw that it was sunrise. Shit, _fucking morning_. 

“Shit… _shit shit fuck godfuckingdamnit_.”

“You sound so thrilled.” She sounded sad, confused, which made Dean feel bad because he knew he was coming across this the wrong way. 

Dean looked over at Krista, and he rubbed a hand down his face. “No, it’s not that, I’m happy, I swear, I’m thrilled, I’m tired and still kind of out of it and shit, but like… I didn’t…”

“Didn’t want to make me your mate?” 

“What? Fucking… no, not that at all,” Dean started fumbling around his side of the bed, knocking an aspirin bottle off of the side table in his search for his phone. “It’s just not how I fucking planned it.” Dean had muttered to himself, not realizing that his internal thought had made its way past his lips.

“…you were planning it?” 

_Awww fuck._ Dean froze, closing his eyes when he realized that she heard him. He wasn’t quite sure if he’d say he’d _planned_ it, more as he knew it was going to happen, knew that he didn’t want it to be on a whim, he had at least wanted to have the conversation with her first, he knew it couldn’t really be planned, but he still felt… wrong, having sprung this on her. What if she wasn’t ready? 

“I… _yeah_. Like, nothing serious, but-“ The rest of his sentence was cut off by him letting out a rough breath as Krista tightly wrapped her arms around his waist, knocking him backwards on the bed. He laughed as she moved her arms and instead sat on him, straddling his hips, but it wasn’t sexual, this was all excitement and was actually kind of adorable. 

“So… so you _want_ me as your mate?” 

“Well it’s too late to take that back, now isn’t it?” 

“I gotta call Sami… you gotta call Rome!” 

“First of all, why do _you_ get to call Sami, and second of all, _why do I have to call Roman_?”

“One, Sami likes me better, secondly, Rome’s gotta know.”

“One, Sami’s known me longer, so shut it you, and secondly, Roman - and when the fuck did you two get so chummy that you can call him Rome all casually and shit - doesn’t need to know shit.” 

“One, Sami said I’m cuter, and secondly, Roman is your _brother_ , as much as you two may wanna murder each other.”

“One… yeah, ok, Sami may be on to something there, and… shit, Kris, you know how shit ended with Ro and I.”

“Look, you called him Ro!”

“Ugh, go call Sami...”

Krista grinned and kisses Dean’s cheek, before moving off of him to grab her phone. She knew it was really early, but she also knew that if Sami saw that she called this early, it was big. She swung her legs off of the bed, needing to walk around whenever she had phone conversations. She pressed the contact for Sami, which was programmed as “pillow” - Sami’s insistence - and waited semi-patiently through the ringing. She didn’t expect the grumbled voice of a woman on the other line. 

“’Ello? Krista? What’s up… it’s early.”

“Oh, hey Jess, sorry… is Sami there, or is he dead to the world?”

“Nah, he’s not entirely dead, hold up… _Sami wake up it’s Krista… Fuck if I know, she isn’t crying, so I don’t think Dean’s dead… just… just take the fucking phone…_ Alright, here he is.” 

Krista smirked as she heard the sleep-heavy voice of Sami’s hit the line. “Krista… if you or Dean ain’t dying, there better be a fucking good reason you’re calling at the ass crack of dawn.”

“Yes Sami, there’s a good reason…” She quickly muted the phone and looked at Dean. “Do you wanna tell him, or should I?”

“How about I just yell it over your shoulder?”

“That works.” She unmuted the phone, and placed it on speaker. laughing nervously. “So, uh, yeah, Sami…” 

“I DID A THING,” Dean yelled from over Krista’s shoulder into the phone, laughing as Sami sputtered over the line at how loud Dean was.

“Fucking shit dude… good morning to you too, goddamn. And what do you mean, _did a thing_?” 

Krista took the moment to speak up. “He did a thing alright, Sami.”

“You’re pregnant.”

“Wrong.”

“You’re engaged?”

“Uh… close?” Krista made a face at Dean as if to say she wasn’t sure if they were, she just figured it was the closest thing to it. Dean shrugged, not sure entirely what answer to give her, but knowing they’d have to talk about it very soon, once the rest of the pack - yeah wow ok pack doesn’t sound weird anymore - found out.

“If you aren’t knocked up, and you’re not getting hitched, then… _no fucking way._ ”

Krista bit her lip, trying hard to not laugh as Sami’s sleep-laden brain chugged slowly into the thoughts. She suddenly heard Jessicka reach the conclusion before Sami. “NO FUCKING WAY, THEY’RE MATED. SAMI. SAMI THEY’RE MATED.”

“Jessicka shut the f- _oh my god you guys are mated._ ”

Dean and Krista both sighed and went “yeaaaaaah”, before staring at each other and kind of smirking, both thinking to themselves, _well that didn’t take long_.

“Oh my _god_ you two are sickening, it’s too early for all this sugary bullshit. Congrats dude, congrats sis. Since you _are_ my sis now.” Sami’s massive grin could be heard through the phone, and Jessicka yelled in the back “Welcome to the club! When you getting bit? Ow, Sami, what the fu-“

“Don’t mind Jess, she’s still a bit tired, _aren’t you sweetie_. Welp, we’re gonna head back to bed, but we’ll have to hang out and celebrate soon. You told Roman or Seth yet?”

Dean felt his back straighten at Jessicka asking about when Krista would be bit, but Krista seemed to ignore it altogether, telling them that they were going to call Roman after, and then call Seth.

“Ah, well, Seth is probably over Roman’s, so you might kill two birds with one stone that way. But yeah, we’ll definitely have to catch up soon, Jess has been _dying_ to meet you in person, ever since I told her the pillow story.” 

“I was wondering why you were programmed in his phone as ‘assassin’, that’s all!” Jess shouted in the back, and Krista groaned.

“Really, Sami? ‘Assassin?’ You’re in my phone as ‘pillow.’”

“NO HE ISN’T… IS HE?”

“Jessicka, _go back to fucking bed_. Alright Kris, I’m gonna head back to sleep and shut this one up. Talk to you later. You too Dean.” 

Dean snorted. “Oh, I get it, I’m second fucking fiddle now, huh.”

“You’ve been second fiddle since I first met Kris.”

“You’re lucky I can’t reach through a cellphone.” Dean was laughing, which Krista was happy to see.

“Later you two.” And with that, Sami hung up the phone, leaving Krista to hold her phone in her hand, shaking with laughter. Dean wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her other shoulder, his fingers tracing very gently around the edge of the bite he had left. 

“Before you call Roman, let’s put some Neosporin and bandages on it. Not that I’m gonna infect you or anything, but they say the human mouth is a disgusting place.” 

“You’re not human, Dean.” 

“Shut up and let me take care of you.” 

After Dean had fussed with Krista, cleaning the bite gently and placing the ointment and bandage on it - “Dean it’s not an animal bite, not really.” “Shut it you, let me do this.” - he was staring at his phone, telling himself silently that he could call Roman. He hadn’t spoken to him in the year and a half since their fight, knowing that it was petty to ignore the text messages and phone calls that eventually disappeared, but he had a good reason to be mad at Roman, then and now, even with how the events of the night had turned out. It was the principle of the matter, or at least that’s what he kept telling himself as he stared down at the phone, finger hovering over the screen to call him. 

“Dean. Just call him. I’m sure he’ll answer when he sees it’s you, especially how it’s so early in the morning. He knows we both sleep like the dead, so he’ll pick up. I promise. You gotta do it.”

“I don’t know why _you_ couldn’t call Roman and I couldn’t call Sami, but ok, fine, whatever.” He grumbled to himself, sitting down on the edge of the bed, foot tapping nervously as he heard the few rings. 

It kept ringing. 

“See he’s fucking ignoring me, I told you Kris.” 

“Well, if it’s on silent, maybe. Just leave a message for him. He’ll call back.” 

“Yeah ok sure-“ 

“…Dean?” It was muffled, probably had his face half buried into a pillow, but that was definitely Roman’s voice. 

“Yeah… yeah, uce, it’s me.” Krista didn’t miss how Dean had fallen back into the term of endearment that Roman and his family had taught him, and she felt her lips twitch into a smile as Dean’s shoulders slumped in relief a little. 

Dean sat there, listening to Roman clear his throat, trying to take the brokenness from sleep out of his voice. He finally spoke up, still muffled slightly, but somewhat clearer than before. “So, why you callin’ this early after not talking to me for almost two years?” 

“I have something important to tell you.” 

“Spit it out, Dean, I’m fucking tired.” 

“I’m… _fuck_ , I’m mated.” 

Roman was quiet for a minute, leaving Dean to start tapping his foot nervously again. 

A chuckle was all Dean heard before a sigh.“Well, no shit, you did the thing.” 

Dean laughed out loud at that, almost a bark, before going, “Yeah that’s what I told Sami. Should I call Seth or is he still camping out at your place?” 

“Nah, he’s here, I’ll let him know. You know how he is when you wake him up.”

“Yeah… so, we should all uh…” 

“What, you want the gang back together?”

“We’re not a gang, Roman.” 

“Then what are we Dean?” Roman had a teasing edge in his voice, knowing he was needling at Dean to get used to the terminology still.

“We’re a pack.”

“You’re damn fucking right we are. Give Krista my love. I’ll call you later with plans.”

Dean nodded, telling Roman he’d talk to him later, and then ended the call, placing the phone on the bed. He looked over at Krista, who was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, with a shit-eating grin on her face.

“Don’t you say a fucking thing.” He pointed over at her, holding his finger up accusingly while looking back at his phone to see a text from Sami that said - _plans later?-_

“I didn’t have to, you already knew.”

“He’s going to tell Seth, and then he’s gonna call later with plans. Sami just texted me asking about plans.” 

“So the pack’s coming back together huh?”

“Yeah… I guess so. Big occasion and all.”

“…I should buy steak, huh.”

“Yup. Lots of it.” 

* * *

They had decided to sleep in some more, enjoying the last vestiges of quiet they’d have for a few days. Even then, it was very barely sleep, but more of a strange meditative trance, their eyes were open, and they were conscious of each other’s presence, but it seemed that it was the only thing they could notice.

Dean would trace a finger over the bandage on Krista’s shoulder, gently, half in tender caring, the other half in some strange sense of awe that he had done that, had done this, had made this huge step forward without realizing his feet were moving.

Krista would cuddle in against his body more, smelling the soap and the salt of his skin and still, deep down, the smell of the woods, and it was as if she could close her eyes, she could see the colored leaves in vivid hues, splashing against her eyes, she could hear the crunch of them beneath her feet. She loved the autumn, it was her favorite, for various reasons, ones that only make sense to someone from the Northeast, and because it was when she had met him.

Here they were, a little more than two years later from that, and she was wrapped up in his arms and a low resting blanket, sore in all of the right ways, and wow, his _mate_ , that’s a weird term still, what does that even mean for them. Does this mean they talk about marriage? Is it a necessity? She knew Roman had brought it up years ago, that it could happen with or without, and vice versa, but she didn’t know if this was just the afterglow of the process, or if she truly felt like this before and had just never shed light on it, but… yeah, maybe she’d be ok with that, if Dean would be ok with that. She didn’t want to force him into something he didn’t want, but who knew anymore.

She closed her eyes, the grazing of his fingers down the side of her arm, mixed with the steady rise and fall of his chest and the firm consistency of his pulse, lulling her finally into sleep. The feel of Dean’s lips on her forehead was the last sensation she remembered before beautiful, deep, blissful sleep, and, oddly, dreams of chrysanthemums.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey everyone. Just a brief update. This fic is going to get a side-story treatment much like how Sir did. As we start to get closer to the end (no worries, we're only about halfway through), I'll start posting little bits about the characters and their past. So you'll probably learn more about Seth's background. Learn some stuff about Krista. And more characters as they're introduced, because there's still some people you've yet to meet. Thank you to everyone for your continued support for this story. It is astounding how much love you guys have given this. It makes my heart happy, and I enjoy writing something that I know people clamor for.
> 
> Reviews, as always, make me a happy Rae.

Krista didn't know why she was nervous, it's not like she had never met these people before. Okay, maybe not Jessicka, but  _still_. Maybe it was because everyone had sort of moved on with their life at some point. Sami had Jessicka, Roman had started taking classes towards his Masters degree, and Seth… you never knew with Seth. He just  _existed_ , did whatever was necessary to living, and then whatever sounded good.

Her and Dean, on the other hand, seemed to be reaching a crux in their relationship. They had moved in together after a year of being a couple, choosing her apartment over his place. The house, while Dean considered it "his," and by all intents and purposes, on all the paperwork it  _was_ , but it was the pack's, and they couldn't commandeer it all the time. However, she had started to notice more and more that the rest of the brothers started living there less and less, moving into their own places nearby, except for Sami and Jessicka, who had moved to Florida, but routinely came back up north for visits.

Things looked like it was opening a doorway that would lead Krista to a future with Dean, and while she loved him and love the thought, some part of her was still scared. She wasn't sure of what, but she tried to not think about it. The doorbell ringing knocked her out of her thoughts, thankfully, and she placed her tablet down on the couch, heading over to the side door in the kitchen. When she opened the door, she was greeted by the sight of a woman with long black hair, part of her head shaved, tanned skin, and bright eyes. She grinned widely at Krista. "Oh! You must be Krista! I'm Jessicka." Suddenly, Sami's voice shouted from beyond Krista's vision.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL HER KRISTA. CALL HER KRIS. I CAN'T SAVE YOU FROM MURDER FROM OVER HERE."

Krista rolled her eyes and peeked around the door to see Sami struggling with bags and the trunk of a rental car. "Sami. It's fine. Do you need a hand?"

"NAH I GOT IT."

She looked over at Jessicka, shrugging. "Men. Gotta love them." She opened the door wider to allow Jessicka in, keeping it cracked slightly for Sami to barrel his way through eventually. "I didn't think you guys would be the first ones here, since, you know… Florida."

"Meh, it's only a two hour flight, and right after we hung up with you, we couldn't fall back to sleep."

"Oh god, I'm so sorry about that."

"Shush, don't worry about it, we were just so happy for you guys. We packed our bags, bought a plane ticket, and here we are! Just  _god_ , I'm so excited to have a sister! Like, a  _pack_  sister, I mean, I consider my friends my sisters and -"

"And Jessicka has a bad habit of rambling when she's excited. Get your ass over here, Kris!" Sami had dropped the bags harshly on the kitchen floor and opened his arms wide. Krista walked over for a hug, but was soon lifted off of the ground and swung around a little, causing a scream of delight to worm its way out of her lips.

"Sami, dude, I  _knew_  you liked her better than me, but fuck, in front of Jessicka?" Dean was leaning against the wall that separated the kitchen from the rest of the house, grinning as Sami noticed him. Dean moved from the wall, walking over to Jessicka, and hugged her tightly, which seemed to take her by surprise. "So you're the one to tame my idiot brother."

"I resemble that remark." Sami laughed, putting Krista down and ruffling her hair.

"Fuck, Sami, I know I'm short, but leave the hair  _alone_."

Dean and Jessicka had been whispering to each other, smirking at Sami and Krista, before nodding to each other. "We just realized that we never celebrated you guys either." Dean had skipped over the word "mating," which didn't escape Krista's notice.  _Why the step backwards?_

"Huh. Yeah, you're right. But first, how about you stop flirting with my mate and say hello to your long lost brother, you douchebag?"

* * *

They had been sitting outside while Dean grilled up some steaks, Krista relaxing on one of the patio chairs in her sweater and leggings. It was a weird time for New England weather: not exactly Indian Summer, but not regular autumn either. In the morning, you'd need a thick sweater or a hoodie, but by noon you were nearly sweating to death. It made dressing, and cooking, quite a pain in the ass, which is why they decided,  _eh screw it_ , and grilled some steaks while there was still some semblance of warmth. It was the middle of October, and Krista was enjoying the beauty of it all.

She wasn't trying to fall asleep, honestly, but there seemed to be just something calming about the entire scenario. Jessicka was happily grabbing drinks for everyone, while Sami was chatting Dean's ear off, telling him about life back down in Florida. It felt peaceful, having the family back together.

Huh. Family. It was strange that she considered these people her family when her own was so scattered and so distant. What was that phrase again…  _the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb?_ She knew it was always misquoted, but right now, the proper meaning really hit home. She had finally told her parents about Dean, and while they were happy for her to have found someone, they didn't really make any efforts to meet him. It upset her, probably much more than it should have, she didn't know why she was so surprised by their lack of interest, but, then again, that was her parents for her. She'd always find some way for them to surprise her.

She was dozing off, between the cool autumn air, and the contentment of the scene, and whisked away by her own thoughts, when she heard a booming, "baby girl, I know you're not falling asleep on me right now." She caught herself, and looked over, seeing Roman standing there, hands on his hips, giving a jokingly disapproving glare. "Get up and come see me, or I will pick you up otherwise."

She smiled, and simply opened her arms, inviting Roman to pick her up. She didn't know why she was so exhausted suddenly, but it was nice being cradled in his large arms, even momentarily. Roman looked down at her, his hair loosely pulled back, and smiled. "Missed you."

"And I'm chopped liver, I get it guys, I was an asshole, what the fuck."

Roman laughed, looking up at Dean, before placing Krista back on her feet, walking over to Dean. He reached his hand out to grab Dean, before pulling him in tightly for a hug, patting at his back. "You may be an asshole, but you're my brother. I missed you too, uce."

"Sorry I was a shit."

"Nah, I deserved it, honestly."

"I must be dreaming, you, admitting you were a jerk?" Dean grinned at Roman, before his face falling a bit and him peeking around Roman's arm. He quickly pushed Roman away and ran over to Krista, grabbing her right as she started to feel her knees buckle. She opened her eyes to see Dean staring down at her with concern, before she closed her eyes, welcoming peaceful sleep back.

* * *

She slowly opened her eyes, finding herself in the middle of the bed, with plenty of blankets and pillows near her, if not on her directly, with Jessicka sitting at the foot of the bed crossed legged, watching her. Seth was sitting on the dresser, looking down at his phone, and Dean was half asleep in the chair in the corner of the room, his body bent uncomfortably, but obviously worn out from worry. How long had she been asleep?

She moved gently to go from her side to her back, when she heard Jessicka speak up. "Hey there, sleepy head. Welcome back." Seth looked up from his phone, smiling slowly when he noticed that Krista was awake.

"Hey Jess… is that Seth?"

"Yeah sweetie it's me. How are you feeling?"

"'M good. Really tired. Not sure what happened…"

"I think Jess is the most qualified to give us this answer, so…" Seth looked over at Dean's form, his minimal amount of sleep being fitful at best. "Should I wake him up?"

Jessicka and Krista both looked over, and looked back at each other. "That's up to you, Kris."

"He might be mad if he sleeps through this, Jess. I think he'd like to know, if you have an answer for what the fuck just happened."

"Yeah. Alright. Seth, you wanna get him?"

"Sure thing." Seth slid off of the dresser, walking gently over to Dean before making a shushing motion with his hand, and leaning right into Dean's ear. "HEY ASSHOLE."

Dean jumped up out of his chair, yelling, nearly knocking Seth out in the process. Seth fell backwards onto the ground, holding his stomach laughing, hearing Dean try to catch his breath.

"Seth… first of all, what the fuck. Second of all  _what the fuck_."

"Bro, your mate is awake."

"I have a name, Seth."

Dean's face lit up a little at hearing Krista's voice, as sleep-heavy as it was, and he moved over to where she was in bed. He leaned over and kissed her forehead, before crawling onto the bed next to her, playing with her hair gently. He had his touchy-feely moments, most of them did, she wondered if it was some weird wolf thing, but this was a bit much, even for him.

"Alright, well, Seth's right, I probably have the most authority on the subject between all of us. But as someone who is mated-"

"Congrats on that, by the way." Seth interrupted, wincing when he did so.

"Thanks Seth. But yeah, ok, so this is going to sound really weird, but like… you guys have to remember, she's a Mundie."

"A what?"

"Uh, mundane. Like, a human. I'm only saying that because where Sami and Dean were both changed, it feels wrong to just say human, because they kind of are still, shit, we are all still somewhat human. So, that term makes more sense to me.

"Anyway, you're only a Mundie. And you just were chosen as a mate. And, from what it appears, this sort of just sprung up on the both of you, which, whatever, that happens more often than you'd imagine. Neither of you had anyone to sort of teach you too much about it, you sort of knew from some hearsay but never anything concrete. So, you wouldn't have known this. But Kris, that's why you passed out. Your body couldn't handle it.

"I mean, like, it drained a lot more energy for you than it would have if you were a wolf, because it's a very specific energetic bond. It doesn't seem like much, because you know, just a bite, but it… I don't know, it's hard to explain, but it's like it links your hearts and brains together. So now you're linked to a supernatural being, whose brain is going a mile a minute, who has senses that have ranges your brain can't even compute, and you have to suddenly support all of that energy after twenty-something years of not having to do that. It's draining on anyone, but especially when you're also low on sleep and haven't eaten.

"You ever heard of the Spoon Theory?"

Krista nodded slowly, "yeah, the HR department at my work has a poster up about it, one of our supervisors has MS, so she explained it to us."

"Think of it like that. You didn't have the spoons for it today. Or, you went through them too quickly."

Dean and Seth sat there, watching as if Krista and Jessicka were speaking another language. Seth, mainly because he was always still learning something knew about the world they lived in, and Dean, because he felt like he had just placed a health risk on Krista.

"So, Jess… will this keep being a thing for her?" Dean looked nervous, his fingers tapping against the pillow next to Krista's head. The rhythm, in some weird way, grounded her, resonating through her skull.

"Well, I'm not too sure, I'm a hereditary you know. But, uh, I imagine that her body would eventually get adjusted to it, so she'd know when she was starting to run on empty. I can't imagine that it'll ever balance out completely because, I already said, she's Mundie and you're  _not_. You're going to produce so much more energy in such a wider range than she can, which is fine, and I know plenty of Mundie-wolf relationships that work out swimmingly. But in order for her to not get drained at random? Her best bet, honestly, is to get changed."

Krista nodded slowly, her vision blurring slightly as she felt fatigue hit her again. Dean looked down, noticing her become unfocused, and brushed some of her hair away from her forehead.

"I think we'll finish this conversation later or tomorrow. Everyone's here, Sami and Roman finished cooking up the steaks, so, why don't we all eat. I'll bring my food up here, and I'll make sure Kris gets some food and some rest, and then I'll come down and hang out with you guys. We need to catch up."

Seth nodded. "I'll let them know, and maybe we can take shifts watching her, like the last time she was here and passed out. Only this time, let's hope she doesn't try to murder Sami with the pillow."

Jess sighed sadly, "I wish someone would tell me that story…" She watched Seth walk out of the door, and she looked quickly over to Dean. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Dean nodded, looking down at Krista. "I'm just gonna be right outside the door, you holler the minute you need me, ok?"

"It's fine babe, I'll be right here."

Dean smiled, kissing her on the head once more, before getting off of the bed and following Jess outside of the door.

Jessicka closed it gently, and let her shoulders drop. "Listen, Dean, I'm sorry. I could tell how irritated you were getting. I don't want to step out of place here, but…"

"Jess. This weekend is supposed to be a good weekend. I didn't talk to Roman for two years when he wanted to give his advice. Please don't make me do that to you."

"I'm just saying. I know you didn't know, and that's fine, whatever, like I said, nine times out of ten they work out fine. But, I do think it would be in her best interest to get changed."

"I'm not doing that to her."

"Dean, you may not have that choice if it means seeing her potentially weak at random."

"I can't take that choice from her."

"I'm not saying you have to do it right now. Talk to her about it, when you're both ready. Just, enjoy the mating, ok? Just know that this is something you're going to  _have_  to address, and the sooner you do it, the better."

She clapped a hand on his shoulder, looking at him with concern and yet a firmness in her eyes. She wasn't going to budge from this, and Dean knew she came from a place of concern and knowledge. She was a hereditary, but she knew about the mating process, and obviously knew enough to ask about the process for humans - fuck what other terms she called them, they were humans and that's that- so she may in fact have been the best person to ask. He nodded at her, and with that she pat her hand against his chest once before walking away towards the stairs.

Dean closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths, hoping to calm himself down before going back into the room. He didn't want Krista to get any inklings of there being any vague sense of discomfort in their conversation. He cracked the door open, and she was already back asleep, curled back up onto her side, clutching onto a pillow. It was a bittersweet vision. On the one hand, she was his  _mate_ , a term that he was slowly starting to not despise, a word that felt heavy on his tongue, that tasted like blood and honey and fresh water and wood smoke. On the other, she would now be slowly suffering because of him and his impulse. He knew he had no control over it, when the moment felt right, he had always heard that.

He just wish he could have held off to discuss it with her. To ask her if this is what life she wanted to subject herself to. She already was sacrificing so much for him. He'd be damned if he asked her to sacrifice her humanity for him.

He closed the door, and rested his forehead against the wood, muttering out "fuck," and closed his eyes.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the delay on this! I had other fics to update, I'm in between jobs, and midterms took over my life. I promise you, I haven't forgotten about the smutty aspect of this fic, but there's certain things that I needed to address soon. But I swear to you, sexy times are imminent! Thank you everyone, continuously, for the love you share for this story. I am forever grateful.

Dean walked downstairs, turning sharply into the kitchen, looking down at his feet. When he felt hands on his shoulders, he looked up to see Roman staring at him. Without Dean saying a word, Roman nodded, understanding everything. The joys of being a pack, even if they never discussed it: everyone could always feel when something was wrong. "Come on, let's go talk."

Roman went into one of the spare bedrooms of the house and when he heard the door close softly behind him, he sat down on the bed, watching Dean's shoulders tensing and releasing, watched his nervous habit of cracking each knuckle in his fingers several times, watched that tic of his where he moves his neck almost like he's dancing, but really it's his way of moving that frantic, anxious energy out of his limbs. He'd seen him like this only a few times before. Last time he'd seen it, he'd gotten into a fistfight with him. That was a year and a half ago.

"So. Spill. What's up with Kris?"

"I'm a fuck up, and you were right."

Roman felt his head pull back sharply, blinking. Dean never admitted when he was wrong. "Whoa, ok, let's rewind. What  _happened_?"

"According to Jess, I just made Kris fucking sick or something."

"Dean. Focus. Go in order. What happened."

Dean took a deep breath, closing his eyes to try and center his thoughts. He was all over the place, he knew it, he felt like something was off in the back of his mind, and he knew it was his worry over Krista and the new bizarre connection he felt to her, and something else, something he couldn't put his finger on.

"Alright. So, Kris had said she was tired, but I figured it was from the fact that uh, we sort of had a rough night sleeping… And when I was saying hi to you, she collapsed, which you saw. Well, Jess, Seth, and I were in the room waiting for Kris to wake up, and when she did, Jess explained what happened.

"Apparently, because Kris is…  _human_ ," he gritted out the word, firm in his position to not call her  _mundane_  because she wasn't, not to him, not at all. "Because she's human, the mating process," his eyes clenched shut, still feeling as though the term still left a bad taste in his mouth, despite being elated about it earlier, "seems to take a lot out of her energy wise. Like, her body doesn't produce enough energy to keep up with the bond, on top of other shit. She said something about spoons, which, I have no fucking idea, but Kris got it. And just… I fucked things up, Ro. I fucked everything up. I didn't want to hurt her, you know that, and look what I went and fucking did."

Roman nodded, having heard rumors of that being a side effect, but never knowing for sure. It was something he had wanted to look into when he was asking Dean about his intentions with Krista, but he never got the chance. He couldn't help but notice Dean's incessant pacing, and how the twitchiness of his neck and head was getting worse.

"Alright, Dean, sit down, you're making  _me_  goddamn anxious," Roman brushed his hair back with a hand, sighing. It'd been so long away from Dean that he forgot, almost, how he'd get, and how he'd have to talk him down.

"'M fine, don't wanna sit."

Roman knew he should have argued with Dean, made him sit, made him remember who the  _leader_ ,so to speak, was… but now wasn't the time, not to exert that role so soon into their reconciliation. It'd be so counterproductive, any tiny progress made today would have gone out of the window, and it could have in fact made things worse.

"Okay, no problem. So, ok… Jessicka said that it's just a bit much on Kris's system? Is there anyway to figure it out, to lessen it?" Roman grabbed his phone out of his pocket, furiously typing something out to a few of his cousins and to his father, asking for a time to possibly meet up or Skype over this. He had no experience with mating, so he felt clueless. The rest of his family, however, found their mates in time. Roman had found someone, or at least he thought he did, but the moment never seemed right, and when she left, he never really pursued the dating scene, deciding to work on himself and the pack. He sort of regretted not knowing this information. It made him feel like there was another mark against him as a leader.

"Yeah. Jess said that after time, she'll get used to it, but it wouldn't lessen, not really. There's only one way to get rid of it."

Roman knew the answer before Dean had said it.

"She didn't."

"Yeee-up."

"She suggested that to  _you_?"

"Yup."

"Jesus Christ."

"You're telling me."

Dean finally stopped pacing, taking the momentary pause to rub his hands over his face, groaning into his hands. "I can't do that, Ro, you know I can't,  _you know I fucking can't._ "

"Dean, ain't nobody asking you to do that."

"No one has to, but it's fucking  _expected_  at this point, man. One, because she's my fucking  _mate_ , which just… I'm still not comfortable using that word, and it's weird thinking I have that. And now, I feel like if I  _don't_  do it, that I just want her to suffer, when really I just don't want her to suffer from being one of us. Like, I can't fucking win, man. I want her to be happy, and healthy, and safe, and instead I just ruin her fucking life."

"Whoa. Hey now." Roman stood up, walking over to Dean and wrapping his arms around him, the hug one-sided. Even though Dean wasn't reciprocating, Roman knew it was welcomed. Dean was a tactile person, he had to touch everything, and he visibly relaxed a bit once Roman had wrapped his arms just a bit tighter.

"You didn't ruin her life, Dean. She loves you, ok? She looks at you like you're made out of fucking sunshine, man, you don't even know. It's kind of disgusting, really, how she fucking looks at you sometimes. And she's been asking for a while to do this, right?"

"Every fucking moon," Dean grumbled into Roman's shoulder.

"And you felt like it was the right moment, and you had known for a while that you wanted to be with her, at least on a somewhat permanent level, since you guys live together now."

"Yeah."

"So, do you think that if you were bad for her, she'd have kept you this long?"

"I don't know…"

"You don't give her credit, man. You're so worried about hurting her, so worried about her safety that you don't realize that she's a grown ass woman who can make these decisions. If she felt unsafe, she'd leave. She could have fucking ran and ratted out our entire community when you showed her what you are, what  _we_  are. And instead, she stuck with us. She learned when the fucking  _phases_  are, uce. You just gotta relax. Let Krista deal with this shit, and when you guys feel it's the right time, you'll talk it over then.

"But just give it time, alright? Just take this time to celebrate the fact that  _you've got a fucking mate_ , man, that's huge, that's fucking  _huge_ , you've got that bond man, just enjoy the ride, even if the first few moments of it are kinda bumpy. Alright? You've got all of us to help you through it, ok?"

Roman loosened his hold on Dean, pushing at his shoulders to look at Dean.

"Alright, Dean?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about."

Dean shook his head, looking back down. "Nah, I have a lot to be sorry about. Mainly for being a fucking dick to you."

"If anyone was the dick, it was me. I butted in when I shouldn't have, worrying about you guys when I should have just let you figure it out. Kinda hypocritical of me to give you that advice just now, huh?" Roman smirked, it turning into a grin when he saw Dean's face break.

"Yeah, maybe a little bit."

Roman playfully punched Dean in the shoulder, grabbing him for a hug again, clapping a hand against Dean's back in reassurance. When Dean hugged back, briefly, still nervous about contact, he knew to pull away.

"Alright, let's eat, those steaks have been calling my fucking  _name_. I'll grab the plate for Kris if you want, I'm sure you wanna catch up with the rest of the boys… if that's cool? I promise I won't bring up anything unless she starts the conversation, alright?"

"Yeah man. Thanks Roman. Seriously. Thank you."

"Don't worry about it. That's what brothers are for." Roman held out a hand, closing into a fist. Dean nodded before bumping fists with Roman, before heading towards the door.

* * *

Dean walked back down towards the kitchen, grinning as he saw Jess fling a scoop of mashed potatoes at Sami's face. Roman groaned, managing to duck a roll being tossed while grabbing a plate of food for Krista, before yelling back "Dean, you better calm these fuckers down!"

Dean mockingly saluted, yelling out "got it, chief!" before taking a roll and whipping it at Jess's head. Roman didn't know why he expected anything else out of them. It was nice to see Dean relaxing though, and he narrowly escaped a glob of mashed potatoes and corn by the time he reached the stairs. He nudged the door open with his shoulder, plate in one hand and a water bottle in the other, and was pleasantly surprised to see Krista sitting up, fiddling around on her laptop.

"Hey you, glad to see you're awake. How you feeling?" He placed the water bottle and the plate of food on the side table, before sitting on the edge of the bed. "I brought you food, figured you should eat. I'm sure that didn't help your fainting spell."

Krista laughed, putting her laptop to the side. "I'm alright. Tired as hell, and you're right, eating is probably something I should do. It was kind of dumb of me to not have  _something_  at least, I'm using more energy now or whatever."

Roman nodded, seeing it as Krista's way to start the conversation. "Yeah, Dean was telling me about what Jessicka said. He said something about spoons… I don't get it?"

Krista rolled her eyes, and picked up the knife and fork that was on her plate. "Alright, so they're not spoons, and there's not a lot, but I'll explain it to you, since you'll probably pick up on this real easy. It's this metaphor for energy when people are sick. Basically, the person who came up with it explained it to a friend of hers when they were at a diner. She grabbed a bunch of random spoons from the different booths, and said that each spoon was the amount of energy needed for a task. Regularly healthy people have an unlimited amount of energy. Sick people don't. So it's about managing how much energy, or in this case, spoons, you have to do something, before you leave yourself drained. So, basically, imagine you have like, 10 spoons in your hand. You have to think realistically about what things you can do, and be able to budget it out for the entirety of your day, without leaving yourself without energy by like, 10 in the morning or something."

Roman nodded and grabbed the utensils out of Krista's hand, looking at them before putting them back on the plate. "And you're probably down at 2 right now, huh."

"Eh, I wouldn't say that low, but I'm definitely feeling the after effects today, that's for sure."

"Well, you should eat, get some of that protein in your system, gives you some lasting energy to work off of." He smiled, jumping slightly when his phone buzzed. He grabbed it out of his pocket, and looked down at the screen, before swiping over to open the text fully. It was from his cousin Jey.

- _W/e u need Uce-_

He quickly typed out a reply, and put the phone back in his pocket after hitting send.

"Who was that?"

Roman looked over to see Krista sitting there, working slowly at her plate of food. She swallowed down a large scoop of potatoes, taking a quick sip of water, before speaking up again. "I never see you on your phone, so…"

"You also haven't seen me in a year and a half, so…"

"Trust me, Rome, I wanted to."

"Don't worry about it, Dean and I already talked through our shit. And nah, it was just my cousin. I'm talking with the family about your situation. I'd never heard of it happening like this with a human, so I just wanted to make sure if this was a common thing or not, and what they knew about it. If that's cool, I mean…"

"Roman. It's fine. You're being a good leader."

He grinned, seeing her break apart the roll, shoving some of the steak, potatoes, and corn inside of it, before taking a massive bite. She was even starting to  _eat_  like the damn boys. Jesus.

"Alright, well, you go finish grubbing, I'm gonna go call the fam and see what they have to say, alright?" He stood up, moving over to Krista and kissing the top of her head gently, before ruffling her hair.

He walked out, closing the door gently behind him, and Krista put her plate to the side, reaching instead for her phone.

Roman talking to his family made her realize… she should probably talk to hers.

She scrolled slowly through her contacts, and found the listing for "Mom."

She hovered her finger over the button, and pressed send.

A few rings, and then a voice. "Hello?"

"Hey mom... it's Krista."


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: And here we are! I've been so excited and anxious to make this update, that I reworked my outline! So, instead of punching you all in the face with a double whammy come chapter 18, I've decided to drag this out a bit more, which works better, because the original outline just had some filler until I figured out some logistics. And you will now see why I had to institute the Howl-niverse a bit earlier than anticipated. I hope you all enjoy, and as always, reviews make me a happy Rae!

A nervous pause, a held in breath, until, "oh, hi sweetie! Sorry I haven't been able to call you lately, you know how it is, running around with Greg on all his business trips. Plus, I have absolutely  _no_  service in this hotel. But we went kayaking and he took me to this  _fantastic_  restaurant and…"

Krista knew she should have been paying attention to her mother, who was living a life of excitement with her new boyfriend, but she sort of really disliked how she never really got to express  _her_  reasons for calling. Finally, she heard her mother calling for her.

"Krista.  _Krista_. I'm sorry sweetie, why did you call?"

"Oh, uh, I just wanted to check in." Why  _had_  she called? She couldn't exactly tell her mother about the mating, but she supposed she could fib. "Just, uh, things are starting to get a bit more serious with Dean, and I wanted to get your opinion, that's all."

Her mother took the bait, sounding absolutely thrilled. "Ooh, what  _type_  of serious? Are we talking wedding bells or…?"

"I'm not entirely sure about that, but we have moved in with each other, so it's looking to get pretty serious, I imagine…" She didn't want to even vaguely mention the thought of it to her mother, because she knew how her mother would get. Her mother was actively planning her fourth wedding, and she hadn't even gotten an engagement ring from this boyfriend yet. Her mother was born to be a bride; just all of her grooms had been raging jackasses. Her father included.

She knew if she mentioned even humoring the thought would lead to stacks of wedding magazines being sent to her apartment without her permission, and that was not how she wanted to start the unavoidable conversation with Dean. It… it  _was_  unavoidable, right?

"Just… how did you ever bring it up, y'know? Like, how do you even bring it up to see if it's something that would  _work_  for you?"

Krista heard her mom sigh, and she could imagine vividly her mother rolling her eyes. "Krissie, sweetie, you just know. But I actually have to get going, Greg's taking me out to downtown Savannah before we have to pack up for Louisiana."

"But… I thought you were coming closer, like Pennsylvania or something."

"I guess Greg's just that good at his job that they want him to stay down south a bit more. We'll be up there for Thanksgiving, though! And maybe Christmas, depending on where his job is by then. I'll talk to you later, sweetie. Love you!"

"Love you too, mom…" Krista put her phone down, watching the screen flash  _Call Ended_ , sighing. Talking to her mom only sort of made things even more confused for her. She wanted to bring it up, not to give hints or anything, but just to figure out where they stood. Roman had told her years ago, that people could be married without being mated, and could be mated without being married. Was it so wrong of her to want some clarification?

She tapped her fingers anxiously against the mattress, looking over at her unfinished plate of food. She knew she needed to finish eating, but after, she was going to enjoy herself, damnit.

* * *

"Alright, so what's going on, uce."

Roman sat in the room, staring at the Skype conversation in front of him. His cousins and his father were all staring back at him, his mom popping in now and then to give her opinion.

"Alright, well… Dean and Krista are mated."

" _No shit_ , huh? Good for him. Tell him we said congrats!"

Roman nodded at his screen, looking towards where his father, Sika, was placed in the grid of faces. "So, dad, here's the thing. Apparently, because Krista is human, it sort of drained her energy. Sami's mate, Jessicka, she said that it's a thing that happens with our kind and with humans. And that the only way she could see it being 'cured' is if Dean changed Krista."

His dad sat there, quiet, brow furrowed and his bottom lip sucked between his teeth, before he nodded. "To be honest with you, son… It's nothing unheard of, but it's very rare. Jessicka is right, it would be in their best interest, if this is an issue of concern for them, for Krista to get changed. But, we all know how Dean feels about that. So, I'd say that, it's sort of out of your hands. You're being a good friend, a good brother, and a good leader, by looking into this. But this is something we haven't really quite figured out as a species yet. We're getting better at it, I find, but it's still got some moments."

"Yeah, but uncle, that's why he's going to school, he's gonna get all Bill Nye on us with the science and figure that shit out, aren't you uce?" This time it was Jey who spoke up, pushing Jimmy out of the way of the camera briefly.

"And hey, auntie, weren't you human when you got mated, or were you turned?"

This seemed to catch Roman's mother by surprise, and she went to speak, but a buzzer in the kitchen went off, and she held up a hand, as if to pause the conversation, before scurrying out of the room.

"Of course, buzzer goes off right when we need her. Good looks auntie on not burning that food! You wanna tell us, uncle?"

"She was human."

"And did she act like that?"

"Yes."

"Is that why you changed her?"

"Well… she asked to be changed anyway, but yes, that was a bit more incentive."

"So, you see uce, it could just be how it happens sometimes. I wouldn't sweat it. Just make sure Dean knows to not tire her out, we've heard stories!" Roman couldn't help but roll his eyes as they both howled exaggeratedly.

"On that note, I think the boys and I should head off. You go take care of your boys up there, Roman. Keep us posted. I'm proud of you, and your mother is too. Don't let your school work slack though, ok?"

Roman grinned, his father being a man of few words, but every word being one of meaning and encouragement. He knew he was fortunate for that. "Sure thing pop. Give mom a kiss for me. I'll see you all soon."

Roman exited out of the call, and sat back in the chair, fiddling around with the Internet for a few moments, when he heard a low rumble from outside.

His nostrils flared momentarily, and that's when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. It was another wolf.

One that wasn't one of the pack.

* * *

Dean had been out in the yard with Seth, play wrestling with each other, while Sami and Jessicka did mock commentary, enjoying the last fleeting days of Indian Summer, when they all stood up straight, Seth still stuck in a headlock. Sami looked over to Dean, who nodded. Jessicka wasn't entirely sure what was going on, she could sense the same thing, but she didn't have the communication entirely with the rest of the pack yet. She hadn't been around the rest of them long enough to pick up that skill.

They could all smell him though.

Dean was the first to barrel inside the house, coming in right as Roman was running up the stairs. "Ro, go handle it, I'll take care of Kris."

Roman had already reached the door, only to see it was open. With no Krista inside.

"She ain't there."

"…what do you mean she ain't there?"

"I mean, she's not in the room, Dean."

"Well she wasn't outside with us, was she with you?"

"No, I was talking to my dad and cousins, trying to see what could be done for her… oh shit the front porch."

They ran down the stairs, nearly tripping in the process, to open the front door, and find Krista speaking with a tall man, who seemed to be covered in tattoos, next to a propped up motorcycle. They both turned to look towards the direction of Dean and Roman; Krista smiling, and this stranger, a odd smirk on his face.

* * *

Krista had decided to take some more time to herself, but at least enjoying the fresh air. The sun was starting to set, the red and gold of the trees brightening as the sun gleamed through it. She had contemplated calling her father to catch up with him as well, but considering how little they had in common nowadays, it would just be an awkward conversation of what dates her father had went on, and him telling her that she needs to call her family more, even though they made no effort to contact her either.

It wasn't worth the headache or the argument, not with how her energy had been running.

She was also noticing, very quickly, what Jessicka had meant about how senses were off. She had kind of noticed it when she was cuddling with Dean before the rest of the pack showed up. It was like she could taste and smell seasons; she reckoned it was almost like a version of synesthesia, with how her senses blurred things together into ways indescribable. If this is what it felt like to have just a hint of werewolf senses, she was incredibly curious to see what the full thing was like.

And there she was again. Thinking about huge life changing decisions that involve her relationship with Dean. She had always questioned with herself, since she was younger, if she'd ever want to get married and have children. Part of her did, but she knew that it was because it was what was expected of her as a young girl, to want these things for when she grew up. As she got older, she started to not really feel any sort of emotions about children whatsoever: if it happened great, if not whatever.

She still liked to imagine, every now and then, being able to look down and see a ring on her finger that meant more than just being a piece of jewelry. Part of her even sort of liked the traditionalism of going dress shopping with her mother, and… she supposed Jessicka. Neither of her grandmothers could really travel, and she wasn't close to her aunts or her cousins anymore. Where would they even get married? Could they have it here at the house? Nice and simple, she was sure Dean would like that, probably…

_Dean_. She really had to talk to Dean, to get her emotions out in the air, if he hadn't already picked up on them. She forgot about the dual nature of this bond, but she wasn't quite sure if it was mindreading. In fact, she wasn't quite sure about any of this, not really, Roman had explained very little about what it was, and maybe it's because he didn't have one either. She'd definitely have to ask Jessicka when they both had a free moment, in order to have a "girl chat," so to speak.

On the other side of her wondering, was if she could handle being changed into a wolf. She'd want Dean to do it, but she knew that it would be easier to get blood from a stone. She'd heard the stories, about the pain, the itch that can't be scratched. She'd seen them come in, worse for wear. Tired, with blood and dirt on their body, clutching sore limbs and scratched skin. She knew of the cravings, the tempers, the way their brain fogged over the closer it got to full moon. Could she,  _realistically_ , be able to handle that change? When the moon turned full after her bite, could she deal with the pain of shifting shape, of shedding skin and morphing bone and tissue into another form altogether? Or would it drive her insane, would it kill her.

She was knocked out of her thoughts by the low rumble of a motorcycle slowly making its way up the driveway.

She placed her tablet down on the side table, standing up slowly, not wanting to rush any movements, for fear of collapsing in front of this stranger. She gently made her way down the steps, pausing momentarily as the bike turned off, and the rider took his helmet off. She noticed first slicked back black hair that curled just at his shoulder, followed soon by the tattoos on his chest and down his arm. He was wearing a white t-shirt and a black leather vest, jeans and boots; your stereotypical biker gear. But when he looked at her, and gave her some bashful smile, something in her flipped. It wasn't like when she had first seen Dean, or hell, even any of the rest of the boys, this was a strange feeling of  _be careful._

"Can, uh, can I help you?" She called out, approaching him still, but much slower than before. He lifted himself from the bike, and that's when she noticed his height. Good  _god_  he was taller than the rest of the pack, he had to be at least seven foot tall, this man was a giant. He placed the helmet on one of the handlebars of the bike, and combed fingers back through his hair.

"I hope so. My name's Baron, and I'm actually new in town. I just moved here maybe a few weeks ago, but I wanted to take the time to get settled in before I really got going." He smiled down at her when she finally approached him.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Baron, my name's Krista. I'd introduce you to the rest of the crew, but they're all floating around the house somewhere. If you want, we can go sit down in the living room or whatever, and you can tell me what you need help with, ok?"

Just as she finished that, she heard a door slam open, and looked over quickly, to see Dean and Roman standing on the porch, with the rest of the pack peeking outside between them, or through the window.

Roman's voice boomed out, "can we help you?" Dean wanted desperately to run over and drag Krista back, as silly as it may seem. For all he knew, he could have just smelled the scent of the pack and wanted to see what was going on. Harmless. But something in him wasn't quite sure.

Krista went to turn to Baron, to apologize quickly, starting to yell back to the boys that she had this handled, to introduce him, when she heard him whisper, "it's ok, I got this."

"Yeah, I hope so. I'm looking for a Dean Ambrose?"

Krista paused, looking quickly over at Baron, before looking back up at the porch. Roman stopped, and Dean's senses flared. Who the fuck  _was_  this guy?

"Yeah? Who's asking?"

"My name's Baron Corbin. And uh, if you're Dean… I  _think_  you might be my brother."


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: WE'VE OFFICIALLY HIT OUR HALFWAY MARK. It's all downhill from here kids. Interpret that as you wish.
> 
> This sees a return to smut, and oh my god Dean has Emotions. Mark this down in your calendars, because this is truly a moment in history.

"Bullshit."

Dean's voice had gone low, almost simmering with poison. He was strung somewhere between rage and disbelief, for two very key reasons: one, if this was his brother, why had he waited so long to find him? Two… why was he a wolf?

Baron seemed to be taken aback by how much venom could be injected into a single word, visibly flinching. He looked over at Krista, who seemed to be the only one who didn't look at him as if he were an enemy. He knew it was dangerous idea, especially when he sensed there being more than one on the land, but there was no other way to contact him. He would have rather called him, allowing for conversation beforehand, but there was no other contact information available. He was even surprised he could find anything under Dean's name.

"Ok, listen, I didn't mean to cause any trouble. I just wanted to meet you, possibly get drinks, and just chat."

Baron held his hands up, hoping it would be enough to show he meant no harm. The anxious looks everyone else cast towards Dean seemed to answer the question for him.

"And why the fuck would I do that?"

Again with the venom.

"Listen, I'm sorry, alright? I'm sorry I even showed up. I just thought it'd be cool to meet my long-lost brother, considering dad never shut the fuck up about you…"

"Get the fuck off of my property before I drag you and that fucking bike off it myself."

Krista whipped her head over towards Dean's direction, staring at him, almost in shock. She'd seen him angry plenty of times, but this was a level of coldness she hadn't seen in years. She knew the minute Baron had mentioned his father, who might be Dean's, that it would only end in at least swearing, if not blood and screaming.

"Don't worry. I'll make myself scarce. Nice to meet you, everyone." Baron mockingly saluted towards the front of the house, seeing what could only be described as  _the pack_  staring him down.

He turned towards his bike, pausing only when he felt a hand on his arm. He looked over, and Krista was looking up at him, apologies written on her face. He could tell she was Dean's, but that she was also embarrassed by his actions.  _Huh._

"Are you gonna be here permanently, or were you just in town to meet him?"

"Nah, I'm here for a bit, why?"

"I'll see if I can talk to him, alright? You just sort of showed up at an, uh, inopportune moment… to put it lightly." 

"Don't worry about it. It's my fault for thinking I could just show up at my brother's house and expect a welcoming committee." Baron shrugged, moving to sit on his bike, his long form hunched over against the handlebars briefly. "You've been kind though, especially to a stranger. That's an easy way to get yourself killed, you know. Be careful with that."

Krista bristled visibly, which made Baron hold up a hand. "Relax, I didn't mean it like that. I'm just saying, self-preservation. Don't let people in so easily. It'll get you in trouble eventually. Have a good one… Krista, wasn't it?"

Something was off about him, but she couldn't tell what it was. She nodded at him, watching that slow smirk of his creep across his face.

"Yeah, yeah it's Krista. Drive safe. And like I said, I'll talk to Dean and see if I can't get him to have a change of heart and at least hear you out. I can't promise that he won't try to kill you, but he'll at least allow you to get a word out first…"

Baron chuckled, starting the bike up. "Do whatever witchcraft you gotta do." He winked, and she noticed the bulky silver ring on his right hand, a pentacle.

"Oh, I'm not…"

"Don't worry about it. Hopefully I'll see you guys around. If not, have a good one, Krista. Stay safe."

She waved at him as she stepped backwards, allowing him the space to turn his bike around, before heading back up the driveway, towards the long expanse of road that separated the land from the rest of the town.

Krista wasn't quite sure what had just happened, but she felt as if there were suddenly more issues to worry about at hand, and they all orbited around Dean.

* * *

Dean didn't have to move his head to feel Krista staring at him. He was looking straight towards the trees, where the driveway twisted and turned away from the house, and along its path was a giant of a man on a bike claiming to be his brother.

He honestly didn't have the time for this right now. He looked over, instead, to Roman, who hadn't backed down so much as he rather chose to let Dean speak for himself. Dean appreciated that in Roman, that he knew when to be the voice and when to be just another set of eyes trained on a potential enemy.

Enemy? Would he really consider this stranger that? Why wouldn't he; he showed up on another wolf's property uninvited and was talking to his mate. Technically speaking, that would place him under the heading of not-a-friend. He wasn't quite sure  _how_  he felt about Baron, though, and that was an uncomfortable thought.

Dean shook his head, trying to clear his mind. He'd worry about Baron later; he needed to figure things out with Krista right now. It'd been less than 24 hours since he had been mated with her and everything seemed to be crashing down around him. He looked back over his shoulder, and saw that Jessicka was standing behind him, her eyes trained towards where Krista stood, making sure she was ok. Sami and Seth had stayed inside, peeking out from the window.

"Ro, Jess… keep those two entertained. I'm going for a walk."

* * *

Krista wasn't sure what to expect when Dean walked over to her, grabbed her hand, and asked her to come with him, especially not with how cold he had been to Baron. She wasn't so sure why she felt comfortable around him, she didn't know him from a hole in the wall, and for all she knew, he could be just as dangerous as his appearance gave.

However, there was some sort of gentleness behind his eyes and his demeanor, and when he had mentioned that he may be related to Dean, she figured that was what made her feel comfortable. A simple knowing of…  _something_. She wasn't quite sure what.

She did know, however, that now was not the time to bring him up to Dean. He seemed distracted, as if he wanted to discuss something else, or even just clear his mind. She filed it away to be brought up later; she had promised Baron, after all, to try and get Dean to at least attempt a meeting.

They weren't too far into the woods, enough that they were away from the house, but nothing too deep as to lose themselves - could they even get lost, she wondered. Each crunch of a leaf beneath her boots only seemed to heighten the obvious silence between them. They finally stopped at a small clearing, one that the boys must have used to take breaks at when they went for runs.

There was a semi circle of turned over logs, or tree stumps, with a small bonfire pit dug into the ground. Dean gently broke the grip he had on Krista's hand, holding up a finger, before heading over to one of the logs, dropping onto all fours and reaching a hand inside it, pulling out an overstuffed duffle bag. He pushed himself up off the ground, the bag over one shoulder, before dusting off the front of his jeans. He grinned at Krista, before shrugging.

"Always gotta be prepared."

He motioned for Krista to come over, sitting down on one of the stumps, rifling through the bag. He pulled out a large flannel blanket that was folded up, shaking it out to its full size, and laid it down on the grassier part of the clearing. He went back over to the bag, finding the packages of matches and a plastic bag full of dryer lint.

Krista watched silently, as he gathered fallen branches and twigs, dried leaves, and whatever other brush he could find in close proximity, his arms full by the time he reached back to the makeshift camp site. He started back, and soon a substantial pile of tinder had been made. Krista realized they were going to be here a while.

The sight of Dean crouching near this small fire pit, leaning wood together, shoving leaves and a few small bundles of dryer lint in between, amused Krista.

"Quite the little Boy Scout, aren't you? I never knew dryer lint could be used to start a fire…"

"If I was a scout, I'd have been an Eagle Scout by now. But no, just skills growing up homeless and, y'know, a wild animal. You learn the weirdest shit."

He had said it so passively, as if it weren't a thing to be sad about. In the two years or so that they had been together, she saw him become more and more desensitized to his past, which was good in some manner, because it allowed him to not dwell on it, allowed him to become a more positive person. She still felt bad for him, but she remembered that he didn't like pity, even if he deserved it every now and then.

Once Dean seemed content with the small fire that had been built, he pulled his jacket off, folding it over as a makeshift pillow, and lay down on the blanket, patting next to him, signaling Krista to lay down next to him. She moved from the log she had been sitting on, laying down next to Dean, allowing him to pull her closer to his body, while he stared up at the sky.

"Y'know. Today didn't go the way I wanted it to go. And I'm sorry about that. I'm sorry about everything, actually." He trailed fingers down her arm like he always did, as if touching her skin helped him to think. Now that they were mates, Krista reckoned it was more grounding than ever before.

"Just, everything about this went backwards. I wanted to have this conversation with you  _before_  all of this happened, and I didn't expect the visitors we got, and just, the moon got the best of me, and you deserved something so much better than what you got, Kris."

"I got you. That's all I want." Her voice was silent, but she wanted to reassure him. He finally looked down at her, smiling.

"Yeah, and I'm a mess. I do things before I think about it. It's always been a problem of mine. I just try to pick up the mess after. So, let me at least tell you what I wanted to do?"

She nodded at him, and he looked back up towards the sky, watching the last trails of color streak through as the sun finally set.

"Well, first off, I wanted to figure out where we at in our, y'know,  _normal_  relationship. We've been together for two years, we live with each other… I don't imagine any reason why you've wanted to keep my mangy ass around for this long, but since you don't seem to know when to quit, I figured we probably are in this for the long haul, huh."

Krista kept quiet, but her heart was pounding against her better wishes. She swallowed, her throat having gone dry, and she looked over at his face again, seeing the look of concentration he had while staring up at the sky, as if he were fighting against the moon in order to get the words out.

"So, before all of this happened, I was gonna ask you, like, if that was a thing you'd want, y'know. Like, talking about a future, you know? We've both kinda tiptoed around it, and I know a lot of that is my fault, and I'm sorry. I was just afraid of you finally getting sick of my shit, but like I said. You're stubborn as all hell, maybe more stubborn than me."

He looked over at her smirking, morphing into a grin when he heard her snort.

"Ok, so, maybe I still have you beat there. But, honestly, I don't know why the hell you put up with all this bullshit. I mean, I'm glad, I'm so fucking glad, I fucking love it that you stayed, and I've been trying my best for you, you know that. But I was just afraid, you know? So, like, is… is that a thing you'd want?"

"Dean, just come out and say it already, you're making my head hurt."

"I didn't know if you wanted to talk about… fuckin…  _shit_ … this isn't a proposal but like…"

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes, I've thought about talking to you about possibly getting married. Yes, I  _would_  marry you. And whenever you decide to get your head out of your ass and ask me, yes I will."

Suddenly, her vision of the sky, dark and starry, was shrouded by Dean's body over hers. He straddled her hips, arms on either side of her head.

"I just told you it wasn't a proposal, but like… seriously? You'd do that?"

"Dean."

"What."

"You're adorable when you're flustered, you know that?"

"I'm sorry, I'm just in shock that you'd willingly sign up to be stuck with me for the rest of your life."

"Well, aren't I now?"

He closed his eyes, before pulling his body off and away from Krista, choosing instead to lie down on his side, facing her. He opened his eyes, and she couldn't help but notice that his guard was down, his eyes having turned amber instead of their usual pale blue.

"That's why I wanted to ask you all of that  _before_  this happened. Because if you said no… I don't think I could know that I'm mated with someone who doesn't want to be with me, you know? It's similar, and I know you've been asking for it for a while, even if you don't realize you have been. I just wanted to make sure that it was  _absolutely 100% something you wanted_. And instead, I go and bite the hell out of your shoulder and here we are, doing this all ass backwards."

She rolled her eyes slightly, laughing to herself.

"Dean. We don't ever do anything normally. Normal isn't  _us._ "

He smiled at her, moving a hand to brush a lock of hair from the front of her face, moving it to behind her ear.

"You're all I've got left that's normal."

Krista smiled back, pulling at the front of his shirt to move him closer against her.

"You have a terrible judgment of  _normal_ , then."

She pressed her lips against his, gentle, unsure of how far he'd allow this to go, what with how she'd been feeling all day. When his hand rested against her neck, allowing him to pull her closer, deepening the kiss, she knew her answer.

He moved, rolling her onto her back, breaking the kiss only to place another gentle one against her neck, mumbling against her skin, "want you." It was too much, having her here, out under the moon and stars with him, the new bond between them tugging at his senses, and that overwhelming sense of love that still managed to surprise him at the strangest moments. It swam around him, and he wanted her to feel even just an inkling of what he felt.

She pushed gently at his shoulder, and when he moved away from her body, she sat up, pulling up the bottom of her sweater, lifting it from over her head, bunching it up and placing it behind her on the blanket.

He nodded, and when he went to take his own shirt off, she placed her hand over his, stilling him.

They took their time, undressing each other, trailing fingers and lips over skin each time it was exposed, their clothes becoming piled at the head of the blanket, until all that was left was her panties. His fingers gently pulled them down her legs, kissing at the inside of one of her knees when he made his way back up her body. Seeing her writhe around spurred him on to place another kiss just a touch higher.

When she felt him wrap his arms around her thighs, pulling her towards his face, she gently pushed at his head. "No, you always do this, let me return the favor."

"Don't worry about me, I want to make you feel good…"

He moved back closer towards her, but even this was more gentle than usual. He was almost lazy in how his tongue and mouth worked, focusing more on drawing out the pleasure in broad licks, slow laps, and the occasional thrust of a finger to spur her on. He could have stayed there all night, loving the sounds she made with every flick of his tongue, the way her thighs would tense around his head, how her hips would jerk whenever his mouth would move even a centimeter. However, he had bigger plans.

He rose, resting his mouth against her throat, suckling a faint mark into her skin as he slid inside her, his hips still as she slowly wrapped her legs around him. Usually he'd want to work the tension out of his system, roughly and loudly, but that wasn't what tonight meant.

Instead, they moved together slowly, her nails trailing down his back, fingertips clenching against firm muscle, lips swollen from kisses and "I love you"s whispered almost like prayers against sweat-dampened skin. It was a low-burning tension, crackling along with the bonfire near them, keeping them warm in the late September nighttime.

When it finally became too much, when all they could do is hold onto each other desperately, kisses and words becoming nothing more than gasps for air, he grabbed her hands in his, slamming them above her head. With fingers tightly interwoven, he felt himself almost trip over that edge, biting roughly at his bottom lip, wanting to keep silent.

However, when she wrapped her legs tighter around him, holding him as she came, an overwhelming wave causing her to do nothing but let out a moan that sounded almost like a cry of relief, he stopped fighting it.

The howl he let out was the most satisfying he'd done in a long time.

He collapsed against her, and after a few moments of silence, their breathing synchronized, he pulled out, choosing to pull her on top of him, taking the blanket with her, so they were cocooned in each other and the fabric, lulled to sleep by the sound of the dying fire and the nighttime chirps of insects.

Back at the house, the pack all heard the howl, and while they didn't acknowledge it to each other, they all reacted. Seth was out on the back porch, staring up at the sky, feeling a regaining of his senses as he saw the moon lose her fullness slowly. Sami and Jessicka lay in bed together, limbs wrapped up in their own haze, smiles of knowing on their lips.

Roman stared at his laptop, trying to ignore the ache in his stomach to have  _that_  in his life.

And across the town, in a lonely motel room, Baron Corbin laid on his bed, awake, uncomfortable, and anxious.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry that this took forever and a day to update. Semester was terrible and I was sort of on the struggle bus with this chapter, but I hope from here I can get back into the swing of things, because the good stuff's coming up. Enjoy :)

The heat of Dean’s body, how his chest was pressed firmly against her back, how he was wrapping an arm tightly around her middle, had managed to keep her warm in the cool night. She wiggled slightly in his arms, snuggling herself more into his body heat, smiling to herself when his arm wrapped tighter. The flannel of the blanket wrapped around them made an extra layer of warmth, and from what she could tell from her closed eyes was that the sun hadn’t risen just yet, the sky still glowing that low blue-gray of early morning. 

She hadn’t been camping in a while, and she hesitated on calling _this_ camping, but she was sleeping out in the woods in a makeshift campsite, so she supposed it could qualify on paper. She wondered if this would be a routine thing for them; the camping, the bonfires, the making love in the middle of the woods… 

She loved the outdoors and all, she pretty much had ever since she was little, but she’d grown accustomed to the finer things in life, like a comfortable mattress.

She had felt herself starting to drift back into sleep, when she felt a slight tugging at her hair. She figured that maybe a few strands had gotten trapped between her and Dean’s bodies, and that’s why she felt it pull. There was more insistent tugging however, forcing her to move her head slightly, cracking an eye open to see what was causing her hair to be pulled.

She saw a black nose, with a white muzzle and whiskers. She blinked a few times, eyes still bleary with sleep, as she saw black marks on the face… a face that was grey. With large, black eyes staring at her, a piece of her hair held in its grip.

The shrill scream Krista let out caused not only the raccoon that had been toying with a strand of her hair to flee, but in her freakout, Dean jerked awake, limbs fumbling in the process and causing the blanket to fall away, leaving the cold air and the dew on the grass to touch naked skin. 

“Whuuuh…what happened?” Dean was still half asleep, but his panic had kicked in at hearing Krista scream. He wiped a hand over his face, trying desperately to wake up more. When he noticed Krista covering her face, muffling laughter, he paused. “Kris?” 

“There was... a raccoon. Playing with my hair.”

“You woke me up screaming… _because a raccoon was playing with your hair_?” 

“I wasn’t expecting to end up a Disney princess this morning, even if I _am_ with the Beast now.”

She snickered as Dean groaned, hiding his face in his hands. “What did I say about the fairy tale jokes?”

“I thought you liked them.”

“I like the Red Riding Hood ones.”

“Why, because you can talk about eating me?”

He peeked out from between his fingers, before moving his hands away, grinning mischievously. 

“Well, no, I was going to pay you a compliment this time about how red is a good color on you, but, if you wanna play it _that_ way…”

She couldn’t help but let out a peal of delighted laughter when he pounced on her, lips pressed against hers.

* * *

They finally made it back to the house, covered in dirt and sweat, clothes rumpled, and had barely stepped over the threshold into the kitchen before Sami cleared his throat. He was sitting at the table, leaning back against the chair, smirking lewdly. Seth and Jessicka were sitting at the table as well, laughing to themselves but knowing better than to say anything out loud.

“Well well well, look what the cat dragged in. You two are disgusting.” He enunciated each word of the last sentence, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

Krista wasn’t sure if it was the sickeningly cute way they were feeling, the afterglow of their conversation and, god, _lovemaking_ still flitting around them, or if it was the fact that they were, in fact, covered in dirt.

“Go take showers. _Separately_.”

With that, Sami got up, grabbing both Dean and Krista by their arms, and leading them to the two different bathrooms in the house, yelling behind him at Dean “STAY. THERE.”

While Sami escorted Krista up the stairs to take a shower, Seth looked over at Jessicka, who was laughing into her coffee cup.

Seth started chuckling, biting into his toast, wiping at his mouth to get the crumbs and bit of jelly away from the edges of his mouth.

Neither of them said it, lost in the humor of the moment, but it went passed between them all the same; Sami Callihan had no room to talk. He and Jessicka had been nigh inseparable the first month of them being mated, so to see him react this way to Dean and Krista was amusing, and overwhelmingly hypocritical.

When Sami had made his way back downstairs, plopping back down into the chair, both Seth and Jessicka had looked up at him, expectantly.

“ _What?_ It’s weird seeing my brother all, y’know… gross and cuddly and cute and shit. Dean doesn’t do that shit. It’s fucking _weird_ ok?”

Jessicka nodded, raising her eyebrows, before sipping at her coffee again. “Mhm…”

“What the hell does _that_ mean?”

“She means, that you were probably the biggest piece of sugary disgustingness the first month you and she were mated. It’s just funny seeing you give Dean shit, when you were so far up Jessicka’s ass we thought maybe she wasn’t a werewolf at all, but a centaur…”

Jessicka almost choked on her coffee, coughing loudly as Seth finished his sentence, grinning stupidly at Sami, who was somewhere between shocked and oddly proud of Seth for his wit. He decided that tossing a piece of toast at Seth’s head was the proper response.

Seth caught the toast without flinching, taking a massive bite out of it.

“Dude, how are you always catching the food. Do you have magnets in your hands or some shit?”

“Nah dude. Crossfit.”

Sami went to whip a sausage link at him, but Jessicka plucked it out of his hands, staring at him.

“Quit wasting the fucking food.” She punctuated her statement with a large bite.

* * *

Krista watched as the drain collected little tidbits of the dirt that had been flecked on her skin, sighing as she let the hot water beat down on her neck and shoulders, the tension from sleeping on the ground having set in. It was sort of nice to have this momentary peace and quiet. She’d have to go back to the city tomorrow, back to the hustle and bustle, but she was ready for the tedious repetition of the week. It would allow her to keep her mind off of everything here at the house. She’d have to talk to HR about if she could work from the apartment, because she could at least be able to relax at home while getting things accomplished, but until then, she’d work during the week, and come here every weekend, a decision she and Dean had come to on the walk back to the house.

She also thought back to the promise she had made Baron. She knew it was still kind of soon to bring it up to Dean, but she’d have to do it soon, right? Lord knows how long he planned on staying in the area. Sure, he had said he was going to be there for a bit, but probably not forever.

She brushed her hair off of her shoulder, fingers gingerly pressing against the bite there. While the skin had broken enough to draw blood, it wasn’t bad by any means, and seemed to have scabbed up nicely. She was careful to not let it peel at all while she washed her body, allowing her mind to go blank. Lulled by the sound of running water, she imagined all of her problems flowing down towards the drain, and for the moment, it seemed like it almost worked.

* * *

She hadn’t forgotten the promise she had made to Baron, in trying to get Dean to at least hear him out, honestly. It weighed heavily on her mind, but she just never really found the right time to bring it up.

It was always something different: she was too busy with work; she was being doted on by one of the pack; Jessicka taking her out in random mini road trips to get away from the testosterone for a few hours; her and Dean having nice quiet moments of enjoying dinner on the porch at the house, now that the trips were every weekend; going for walks; or, admittedly, having probably far too much sex than what was probably appropriate for her health.

She just never could find the right moment.

Which is why it was now a few weeks later since Baron had shown up on his bike, and Krista was getting anxious, bouncing a leg absentmindedly as she sat in the passenger seat of Jessicka’s car.

“You ok over there, killer?” Jess looked over, an eyebrow raised at Krista’s nervousness.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be fine?” She could feel Jess staring at her, and decided at that very moment to find something overwhelmingly interesting out of the window.

“You can stop lying, you know, remember… wolf. I can smell the anxiety off of you. What’s eating at you?”

Krista sighed, slumping her head against the cool glass. “It’s all this shit with Baron. Like, he showed up a few weeks ago out of the blue, Dean nearly threatens to kill him, and I might have promised Baron that I could see if I could talk to Dean for him.”

“Kris…”

“I know, I know, but just… I know Dean’s always sort of hated not knowing much about his blood family, and if this Baron guy is really his brother, I honestly think it’d be some nice closure or whatever for Dean. Like, they don’t gotta be buddies, but, fuck, just talk at least…”

Jessicka nodded, knowing nothing she could add to the conversation to really make Krista’s nerves ease at all. Keeping quiet, she pulled the car into an empty spot in the parking lot, the shopping center in front of them bustling.

“Alright, well, I need to pick up some things here, you sure you don’t wanna come along?”

“Nah, I’m just gonna hang out here, if you don’t mind.”

“You have my number. Call me if you need anything, and I mean anything, alright?”

“Jess, you’ll be quick, I’m not worried about it.”

Jessicka nodded, a look of concern on her face. “I’m gonna keep the keys in here, in case you wanna listen to some music or something.”

Krista’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not a child Jess, I’ll be fine.”

“Sorry, just…”

“I’ll be fine, go get your stuff already.”

Jessicka got out of the car, shutting the door behind her, walking towards the cluster of stores she had to go to. Krista watched her briefly, before looking down at her phone.

As she sat there, playing some tedious matching mobile game, she was woken from her thoughts at the distinctive rumble of a motorcycle. She looked up quickly, sticking her head nearly entirely out of the window, as the large bike rumbled towards a parking space a row away.

Without hesitation, or thinking, Krista grabbed the keys out of the car, locking it behind her, running towards the bike. The town was small, very small actually, and she knew the size of the rider immediately.

“Hey! Hey, Baron!”

Baron had just taken his helmet off, looking over at Krista running at him.

“Hey, Krista, right? Glad to see you! How are things with you and Dean?”

Krista smiled, trying to catch her breath from the run. “We’re good, we’re good… I meant to ask for your number, so I could give it to Dean. Haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet, life’s been crazy, but I do plan on talking to him, I promise. And, hey… this isn’t the bike you drove in on last time…”

Baron grinned, looking down at the bike. “Yeah, she’s brand new, beautiful though. 2015 Softail Fat Boy, even got her in the new custom color and everything. ‘Black Magic.’ Couldn’t resist.” He smiled at that, and Krista couldn’t help but catch the hint.

“Into witchcraft, I take it?” She pointed at the ring on his hand, and he grinned, holding up his hand briefly, before placing it back on the handlebar.

“Kind of. I mainly dabble. You into bikes? Since you could tell this wasn’t the same one.”

She shrugged. “Nah, not really, a few coworkers of mine have them, and I always wanted to learn how to ride, but I don’t sit there and drool over them, you know? I know what I’d want, though.”

He leaned forward on the handlebars, grinning. “Well then, impress me.”

“I saw it last year. The Iron 883. In the Voodoo Purple.”

“Ooh, look at you, Miss ‘I don’t sit there and drool over them’, you know the damn paint color name and everything! Those are real nice bikes, smaller body on them, inexpensive for a Harley. I wouldn’t take you for a Harley chick, though. Could see you with a racer, though.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll never have one because I don’t know how to ride, so, a girl can dream I suppose.”

“Hey, don’t say that, I could always teach you on one of the junk bikes down at the shop. That is, if Dean doesn’t try to kill me, and all. He seemed pretty hellbent on it when I showed up.”

“He… he does that. He’s uh… territorial, let’s just say. And no no no, I do not need to be learning how to ride a bike.”

“I think you could handle it.”

Krista smiled at Baron, before jumping at her phone buzzing. She looked down to see a text from Jessicka, asking where she was.

“Alright, well, I gotta get back to the car, but lemme get your number so I can give it to Dean, alright? I really hope he calls you. It’d be nice to see you two connect, if it turns out that you two really are brothers.”

“Yeah, that’d be nice.” Baron rattled off the numbers, and Krista typed them in, hitting dial on her phone. A few seconds later, his phone rang, a chugging guitar riff as his ringtone.

“And that would be my number, so if you need me for anything, you’ve got it. I’ll see you around, Baron.”

“Call me Bare, it’s what everyone else does. Have a good one, Krista.”

“Call me Kris, I hate my full name.”

Baron smiled, finally getting off of his bike to continue his errands. “Alright then Kris. Have a good one!”

Krista waved, walking back towards the car. When she got back over, Jessicka was waiting for her, leaning against the car.

“You had me worried.”

“I told you, I’m fine. I saw Baron and wanted to say hi.”

“...Kris.”

“I got his number so I could give it to Dean, so they can talk, calm the fuck down. He’s nice, Jess, relax.”

“Mhm… let’s get home, I’m done here. Unless there was anything you wanted?”

Krista shook her head, looking down at her phone, seeing a text from Baron.

_-Hope to hear from you and Dean soon. Even if you guys aren’t family, friends would be nice.-_

She swiped at the phone, marking it as read. She’d talk to Dean tonight, she had to.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Aww ya done did it now, Dean. We're almost near the end of the second arc, and it's gon' get juicy, friends. Strap on in.

She hadn't even been home for more than a few minutes before she was lifted over Dean's shoulder. Jessicka had been talking more  _at_  her than  _to_  her on the ride home, about how she needs to be straightforward with Dean about talking to Baron, and how shady it looks texting him. Krista had just nodded, saying that she'd tell him as soon as she got home, but now as she was being carted up the stairs by Dean, she looked up at Jessicka, an apologetic look on her face.

She knew she had to talk to Dean tonight. It was just a matter of having him give her a minute to actually  _do_  so.

He had playfully tossed her on the bed, crawling on top of her, making himself comfortable between her legs, to kiss at her neck, when she had sighed out, "no, Dean, we need to talk."

"We can talk later…" his voice low and scratchy in her ear, before he bit gently at her earlobe, moving away to bury his face in her hair, inhaling deeply. He had just barely pressed his hips against her, and while she was enjoying herself, she caught herself quickly, moving to sit up.

"No, Dean, really, we need to talk."

"Right now?"

"Yeah."

He closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths, almost like he was both calming himself and centering himself. Watching him concentrate on the even counting of breaths made her own pulse seem relaxed, and she hadn't realized how frantic her heart had been running. She took the moment to close her own eyes, feeling as if she were in a dark forest, one similar to the location of her dream; it was in a permanent darkened blue, with stars and fireflies and golden eyes through the bramble and the trees. It was calming, and she felt like her mind was racing along a river, bubbling over rock and beneath stump. It was wild. It was free.

It wasn't her thoughts. Or, at least, she didn't  _think_  it was her thoughts.

When she opened her eyes, she saw Dean staring back at her, the gold hinting at the edges of his eyes, but he was fighting it off, in order to pay attention to what she had to say. Well, no time like the present.

"I wanted to talk to you about Baron."

Dean sat there, kneeling, on the bed, trying his best to not clench a fist. Krista didn't miss the motion. "You interrupted  _that_  to talk about  _him_?"

"Hey, no, let me finish. I know you don't like him, and I'm not sure what's going on in your heart about that, and I can't pretend to even understand what you must be feeling, but I… uh… think you should talk to him. And this is why. I mean, he's potentially family right? He may  _not_  even be. And if he is? You're not obligated to invite him over for every major holiday, and it's not like you two have to be up each other's asses. But, it would be nice to have some sort of relation, right? For health reasons? You don't know, Bare could have-"

Dean froze, his eyes growing wide momentarily, before narrowing. " _Bare?_  What, you got a nickname for him and everything? How long have you been talking to him?"

"He's been in town for a few weeks. I saw him earlier today at the shopping center when Jess and I were out. He gave me his number to give to you, so literally only since today have I been talking to him, but he did ask me the day that he showed up if I could try and talk to you about meeting up with him. He  _really_  wants to talk to you Dean. At least just hear him out?"

"There's nothing to hear out. If he had wanted to get to know me, he could have done it  _years_  ago."

"Dean. That's not his fault. If your dad left, he may not have had a chance to find you until now. He's your  _brother_."

"He  _might_  be."

"What, you doubt it?"

"I don't know who my dad is, probably won't ever know because the only person who  _did_  know is dead, and for all I know my dad could be too, and would probably be better off dead, like I told you, since he, you know, fucking  _ditched_  us. Plus, considering how my mother was, I don't think I would have liked the person my dad was anyway. So for this random guy to show up at our fucking house-"

Krista didn't miss the possessive changing from  _my_  to  _our_.

"Saying that he's possibly my brother, it's just. Not fucking right."

"But still. Dean. You gotta at least hear him out."

Dean moved from the bed, choosing instead to pace in front of the bed, resting a hand against his chest, tapping his fingers against his collarbone. He shook his head, almost laughing to himself, as if he couldn't believe - or accept - the conversation he was having.

"I don't gotta do shit, Kris."

Krista stared at him, feeling the very last of her nerves fray apart. "You're kidding me, right? You're gonna sit here and wax poetic about how the only family you have are the people in this house, the people you consider pack, because you were an orphan and you were alone. And then  _actual blood relatives show up_ , and you're gonna brush them off because you're, what, nervous? Angry?

"Do you listen to yourself sometime? I don't know what you want, pity or a pat on the head, like, what the fuck. You wanna talk about how you want to make things right, and you can't even do right by someone that  _might be your fucking brother_."

"I don't need another brother, I have three."

She couldn't stop her voice from raising. "AND YOU MAY BE THE ONLY ONE BARON HAS LEFT."

"Oh, so now you're gonna be on his side or some shit?"

She felt her eye twitch, and she pushed herself out of the bed, moving towards the dresser. She was stopped by Dean's body, his hand grabbing at her shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm packing my shit and I'm going back to the city."

"The fuck you are."

"I swear to fucking god Dean, if you try to stop me again, I will end you the fuck now, right here. I am  _sick_  of this little game we play where we have to tiptoe around  _your_  feelings and how  _your_  past is fucking traumatizing and like. I get it, ok? I fucking  _get_  it, your life got all topsy turvy when you got bit, I've heard this story for a year and a fucking half now. I've seen you shift multiple times, I've fucking sat out in the yard with you on nights where there were lunar eclipses, and you were still a goddamn wolf, and I would lean against you, snuggling into your fucking fur, scratching you behind the ear. I've become  _far_  too fucking well adjusted to this shit.

"Before I met you, I worked in the fucking city. I hated my job, but it paid my fucking bills. I wore either black or grey business suits, did nothing that was fun until I got home, threw on pajamas, made friends with a pint of ice cream or some sort of take-out, and watched trashy reality television. I'd very rarely talk to my parents, who were too busy hating each other to ever spend any attention on me when I was younger. I have little to no friends because the minute we all graduated from high school or college, they ditched, like everyone else the fuck does.

"I only went to that bar downtown on a blind date that I was forced to go to from a coworker, and that dickhead ended up ditching me. And you know what? I met you. You saved me from that creep. And yeah, I felt some weird need to thank you, so we went out for drinks and food later that week. We kept talking. I fell for you, pretty fucking hard. But the fact that I had to wait  _six fucking months into our relationship_  to tell you that I love you, because I could tell how fucking closed off you were, that's just… that's not  _right_ , Dean.

"I sat on that for a good three months. Because I could tell how anxious anything dealing with  _serious relationships_  made you, so I just sort of played it by ear. And then you go and spring the wolf thing to me in the most  _nonsensical manner_ , like, what, did you think that I wouldn't believe you? So instead you decide to just bring me to the middle of the woods, strip fucking naked, and change in front of me? And then act surprised when I pass out. Like, I don't think you fucking  _think_  sometimes Dean, just, I don't…

"But that's not even the point, the point I'm trying to make is that everything is so fucking dependent on  _your_  feelings, on what  _you_  expect, on what  _the pack_  expects, and never about 'hey let's ask Krista how  _she's_  feeling, let's see what  _Krista_  wants to do, let's make sure  _Krista's_  opinion is heard.' No. No, instead, you guys all sit there and bicker over the stupidest shit, and only pay attention to how this shit affects me when it's  _become a fucking health risk._

"And you know what? I'm done. I'm done bending over backwards for this shit. I have been way more understanding,  _far_  too fucking comfortable, and I'm not fucking doing this anymore. I'm not just gonna sit by the side and watch all of you fall into your same routines, and I'm not gonna sit here like some fucking  _child_ , like some fucking  _invalid_ , whose decisions aren't her fucking own. I am your  _girlfriend_ , I am your  _mate_ , and I  _deserve_  to be treated as such."

Dean stepped back, visibly wounded by what Krista had said. "What do you mean, you're  _done_."

"I'm gonna go home. I am gonna go back to the apartment, and get some space from all of this insane  _werewolf_  bullshit. What  _you_  need to do is think, realistically, about how you treat the people closest to you. And then I want you to call Baron, and then I want you to hear him the fuck out, meet up with him, and maybe, just maybe, you can pull your head out of your ass enough to see that not everything is about you, but that there are people around you who want to be part of your life, but if you keep pushing them the fuck away because you're too goddamn afraid to deal with your fucking feelings, you're gonna lose  _everyone_  you fucking care about."

She was trying her best not to cry, and failing miserably at it, but she couldn't help it. She hadn't said these things to hurt him, but he needed to know the truth. She loved him, honestly, but if they were going to attempt to have a life together, a serious one, he needed to cope with his problems, or else she'd be signing up for a life of regret and heartache.

Dean watched helplessly as she moved past him, his hand reaching out to try and grab her, to try and talk things over, but instead she yanked her arm away, snatching her purse and the keys, storming out of the house.

Seth and Roman were in the living room, chatting and watching TV, when they saw Krista slam the door shut behind her, looking at each other briefly before running towards the front door, seeing only a cloud of dust as she drove away. Roman had turned to ask Seth to check on Dean, but he was already walking back inside of the house, taking the stairs two at a time, barging into the bedroom, ready to ask Dean what had he done, and why had Krista left.

He hadn't expected to find Dean, sitting on the ground, head resting on his knees, back against the dresser.

"Dean…"

"She's gone."

"Yeah, I… I saw."

"She's gone."

"I know, Dean."

"She's gone."

Seth sighed, sliding down against the dresser to sit next to him, a discontented grumble when he felt Dean rest his head against Seth's shoulder.

Seth looked down on the ground next to him, and saw a crumbled up piece of scrap paper, with a number scrawled on it in purple ink.

"Hey, do you know whose this is?" He nudged his shoulder slightly, making Dean look up at him.

"What?"

"It's a phone number. Do you know whose it is, before I toss it?"

Dean stared at the number, recognizing the zip code as from not around the area. He had a suspicion…

"I think so. Lemme have it."

Seth nodded, not flinching in the slightest when Dean snatched the paper from him.

"Is it that guy that showed up a few weeks back?"

"Baron? Yeah…"

"You gonna call him?"

"Dude, I don't know. Like… he just shows up out of the blue, says he's my brother, wants to reconnect after fuck knows how many years? And he's getting all buddy buddy with Kris and just…"

Seth looked over. "You know she thinks the sun shines out your ass and the stars are in your eyes, right? She'd never look at Baron like that. Hell, she didn't when he first showed up. Kris is just a kind soul. That's why you love her. The Dean I knew before her was kind of an asshole. Kinda scummy. Kind of disgusting."

"Wow, you're such a great motivational speaker, Seth, clearly you need a career change, fuck being a personal trainer, you know how to cheer a dude up."

"Shut the fuck up. You two fought about him, right? She wants you to call, you were hard-headed and didn't wanna do it, she stormed out and left?"

"I. How did you…"

Seth rolled his eyes, tapping at the side of his head. "Pack thought, you idiot."

"Oh. Yeah…"

"Listen, I'm not gonna tell you whether or not you should do it, or whether or not you should trust Baron, that's not my decision to make. You need to think about what's best for you, what's best for Krista, and what's best for you two as a couple. Fuck the pack, fuck your pride, do what the fuck you  _want_  and do what the fuck you  _need._  And do what's right by her. Alright? You got fucking lucky with her. Roman and I haven't found that yet. So, please, don't fuck this up? We like her too much. We'd keep her and drop you, probably." Seth stuck his tongue out at that, making Dean laugh slightly, punching him in the arm.

"Yeah, yeah, asshole. But, yeah, Seth, I. Thanks. Just, uh. Tell Roman I need some time to myself, and I'll talk to him later?"

"Yeah… sure thing. Just. You know."

"I know. Thank you."

Seth nodded, nudging against Dean again before pushing himself up off from the floor, looking down at Dean before heading out the door, closing it quietly behind him.

Once Dean had known that Seth was away from the door, hearing the creaking of the stairs as he descended, he took that moment to reach his phone in his pocket.

He stared at the screen for about ten minutes, locking and unlocking it to see the pictures Krista had insisted they take on his phone, the ones she had programmed as his background, because he was absolutely incapable of handling it. He nearly threw the phone against the opposite wall, but the paper in his hand crinkled when his fist tightened.

He took a deep breath, and dialed the number slowly, as if each digit were pushing him towards a cliff, the  _send_  button being the final nudge off the precipice.

 _Time to jump_ , he thought, pressing it.

As it rang, he could feel his heart in his throat, eyes tightly shut, praying for no answer or a voice mail.

"Corbin Cycles."

Damnit.

"Uh… is this Baron?"

"Speaking. What can I do for ya?"

"It's, uh. It's Dean. Dean Ambrose. You… uh. You free for a beer tonight?"


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: We're almost at the end of arc 2! Thank you everyone for your continued support for this story, even when I'm sitting here throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. You guys help me figure out plot points where I found none, correlations I had never seen, and inspire me to want to deliver my best with this story, even when it started to not feel fun for a while. You guys have kept it fun for me. Thank you.
> 
> Without further ado...

It was silent for a beat, an awkward enough moment for Dean to contemplate hanging up the phone and forgetting it altogether, when Baron cleared his throat.

"Oh, uh. Shit, hi. Honestly didn't expect to hear from you at all, let alone this soon. I'm real glad, real glad to get to talk to ya."

More awkward silence. This was going fucking  _fantastic_ , Dean thought, biting absently at his cuticles.

"But, uh… to answer your question... I'm actually booked tonight. I'm free Tuesday, don't have any plans really then. Well, to be honest, I don't have plans tonight, just got some bikes to fix."

Dean knew himself, and he knew that if he waited until Tuesday, he'd find some way to cancel. No, if he was going to do this, he was going to do it now, or never do it at all.

"Nah, man, that's cool, we can hang out at the shop or whatever, if you're okay with that. I'll grab some beers, we'll order some pizza, and we'll chat."

"Is it just gonna be us two or is Kris tagging along?"

Dean couldn't help but close his eyes, trying to calm himself down from hearing Baron call her that.  _She has everyone call her that, calm down._

"Nah, nah… she went back to the city to handle some work stuff, so it's just me and the crew tonight. I'll swing by around eight, that good?" He fell into the lie easily, almost as if he were trying to believe it himself, that she had only gone back to take care of business, and not because she was fed up of his behavior.

"Yeah man, that's perfect. Listen, I gotta get back to work, but I'll catch you tonight, alright? I'm not too picky when it comes to beer, so just grab whatever you like. I'm really glad you called, Dean."

Dean could hear the happiness - a cautious happiness, but happiness nonetheless - in Baron's voice, and he shrugged, hoping that at least if they could get along, regardless of if they were related or not, it would be some sort of progress.

"Yeah. Same here, man. You at the shop in the middle of town?"

"Only one in this podunk ass town, right?"

Dean couldn't help but bark out a laugh at that.

"Only been here a few weeks and already insulting the neighborhood? I'll just listen for the sound of bikes, how 'bout that?"

He was answered with a tiny snort of laughter on the other end of the line.

"Best way to find me. See you later, Dean."

The line went dead, and Dean looked down at his phone, shaking his head slightly. That went way too easy for his liking. Uncomfortably easy. Something had to give.

Oh.

Right.

He was a fucking  _wolf_ , how could he forget.

* * *

He had made some half-assed remark to Roman and Sami about how he didn't want to do anything specific tonight, that he wanted to just go for a drive, spend some time to himself, think things over. They had all bought it, except for Seth, which Dean had counted on happening. He was sitting on the trunk of his car, staring up at the sky. The moon was waning, almost a sliver of light, and somewhere deep inside of him was a desire to howl.

He fought it off. Now was not the time to be somber.

He went to hop down from the trunk, when he heard footsteps on the gravel of the walkway. He looked over to see Seth standing there, hands shoved into his hoodie pocket.

"Come out here to check on me?"

"Came out to wish you good luck. I know you're going to go talk to Baron."

"Figured you did. Although I doubt that Roman bought my story." Dean pushed himself off of the vehicle, his boots crunching at the hard dirt of the driveway. He walked over to where Seth was standing, shrugging his shoulders a few time to loosen up the leather of the jacket, which had started to grow slightly stiff in the steadily cooling night.

"I'm sure he has his suspicions, but I also know that he trusts you enough that if you wanted him to know about something, you'd tell him to his face. I understand why you didn't tell him or Sami. Ro would want you to have Baron come here, on territory that you had an advantage on. Sami wouldn't want you to talk to him at all."

Dean nodded, not being able to argue with Seth's assessment. That was one of the great things about each member of the pack having their own strength; Seth had much keener senses than the rest of the pack, and where it was somewhat distracting to him sometimes, it helped to serve he and the pack when it was absolutely necessary. It also permitted for him to be the most empathetic of the group; where the rest of them were headstrong, Seth would remain quiet, comprehending a situation in full before speaking on it. Dean envied that.

"And what do you think, Seth?"

"Will my opinion change what you're about to do?"

"Nah."

"Then why does it matter?"

Dean shrugged again, before combing fingers through his hair, brushing some curls out of his eyes. "It doesn't, not really, it's just nice to hear, I guess."

"Well, for what it's worth… I think you're doing a good thing. Is it the right thing, or the smart thing? Who knows. But I think you're doing good by Baron by hearing him out, I think you're doing good by Krista by acknowledging your faults, and ultimately? It'll do you good to find out some potential life-changing information."

"Seth… if you know anything… you'd tell me… right?"

"Dean." Seth raised an eyebrow, as if to insist that he knew nothing. He truly didn't. Dean barely gave off the sense of being a wolf, but whether that was a strength of Dean's to cloak himself, or if it was his insistent denial of what he was having made him stunt that, Seth wasn't quite sure. He could only read what was felt on people. If Dean determined to not feel something, he couldn't pick it up.

"Yeah, Seth, you're right, I'm sorry. But hey, I won't be long. At least, I don't expect to be. And if you or the family needs me, I'm at the shop in the center of town. I should be good though, alright?"

"Be safe. Be smart. Be open to whatever Baron tells you. Alright? I'm sure this is just as nervewracking for him as it is for you."

"Thanks, man." Dean pulled Seth in for a hug, which took Seth for a slight surprise, but he warmed into it, rubbing his hand on Dean's back, the leather soft under his calloused palms.

"It's what brothers are for, man. Get going, you have another potential one waiting for ya."

Seth backed away, letting Dean grab his keys from his pockets and walk towards his car.

"I'll text you updates."

Seth only nodded, watching as Dean got into the car, starting it, and slowly turning it around to drive out the long driveway. Seth looked up at where the moon hung, thin but bright, and tipped his head back, letting a tiny howl slip from his lips.

Down the main road leading towards the center of town, Dean smiled, knowing that while he couldn't return the call, he knew the pack was with him, in some aspect.

* * *

Dean pulled into the parking lot for the tiny garage, the only thing new looking on the old brick building was a sign, in black with silver writing, stating CORBIN CYCLES. It didn't fit in this quiet New England town, but Dean shrugged, thinking he had no room to talk, given what secrets he and his family were keeping.

He had stopped on the way, grabbing a couple of six-packs and a large cheese pizza, knowing that you can't really hurt with a basic, even if the meat lover's special was calling him something fierce. He shut the door of the car behind him with his hip, his hands otherwise occupied with the food and drink. The door was cracked to the garage, and the light was on, with some sort of metal music playing in the background.

Dean stuck his head in, peeking around, finding Baron staring down a burnt-orange colored motorcycle that looked like it had seen better days, but had a classic build about it that made Dean assume it was a Harley Davidson. Baron seemed like the type who preferred American-made bikes.

"Knock knock!" Dean called out, hoping that his voice could carry over the sound of whatever was playing from Baron's iPod stereo.

Baron turned around, the wrench that he had been tapping against his shoulder still in his hand.

"Oh, shit, is it 8 already? Fuck, I'm sorry man, lemme put the bike down and wash up right quick. Come on in, there's a couch right over there." Baron pointed towards somewhere that Dean couldn't immediately see due to some tool boxes being in his line of sight, but once he stepped in more, he took an appraising look around, and was impressed.

He had seen what state the shop had been in years ago, when they first got the house and land in the town, and remembered it being an abandoned gas station, one still advertising gas prices under $2.00. The gas tank hookups had been removed, and it looked like from what Baron had done with the place, he was trying to improve the appearance of the shop in full.  _Seems like he has an idea of what he wants to do… which is good. Good head on his shoulders._

Baron came back out, wiping his hands on some paper towel, tossing the crumbled ball into the trash. "Sorry about that. Got tied up staring down this Sportster that someone just left to rot in a junk yard. It's not even that old either, it's only an 05 at the earliest, judging by the rear axle… I'm sorry, I'm rambling, you probably don't give a fuck about bikes."

Dean chuckled, plopping himself down on the couch, pulling a beer from the plastic six-pack ring, cracking it open.

"Nah man, it's cool, I get it, it's what you  _do_. We all get caught up in our work sometime. But, if someone left this in a junkyard, why you workin' so hard on it? Someone buying it off of ya? Pet project?"

Baron leaned against one of the worktables nervously. "Well, uh, it's gonna be a gift. If, you know, it's cool."

Dean took a sip, raising an eyebrow. He placed the can down, wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand. "Gift for who?"

"Kris. She told me earlier that she always wanted to learn how to ride, and that there's this Harley she really liked, but she wasn't gonna buy it if she couldn't ride it. So I had told her that I could always loan her a bike to teach her on." He was quiet for a few moments, looking over at the bike on the worktable, before looking away, sighing and shaking his head. "Man, saying all of that out loud, I sound real dumb."

Dean narrowed his eyes, trying to get a read on Baron, before looking over at the bike. He knew Krista had mentioned once or twice wanting to learn, but that she didn't know the first thing about starting, and he had seen her staring at the bike on her laptop when she didn't think he was watching. She was always trying to hide her wild edge, and part of him hated that she felt that. Maybe if things with him Baron went well, who knew?

"Nah, that's not dumb. I'm sure she'd love it, even if she'd probably be pissed at us for it. You'd have to change that color though. She hates orange."

Baron looked over, smiling slightly.

"But, enough about Kris for now. Let's chat, you and I. Since we might be related and all."

Dean took another swig of his beer, before reaching for the pizza box. He ripped a slice out, taking a large bite of it, eyes nearly rolling in the back of his head at how perfect it tasted.

"So, go on, tell me about yourself. You know shit enough about me since you found me. Lemme play catch up."

"Alright, well… I was born September of 1984. Mom and dad split when I was a baby. They weren't married, or, at least that's what mom makes it seem like. I think they were on the verge of it or whatever. Anyway, she got married to this other guy, Scott, nice dude, he adopted me actually. So my last name is his."

Baron took the moment to slide down to sit on the floor, resting a tattooed arm on his knee.

"Uh… grew up in Kansas City, had a pretty normal childhood I guess… parents decided to move to Pennsylvania when I was old enough to really head out on my own. Went to a state school, played football but didn't really get anywhere with it. It was when I was 20 that I started getting into bikes, used to hang out at one of the shops almost daily trying to get a job, because school jobs pay you jack shit.

"And that's uh… that's when dad decided to show up, I guess."

Baron bit nervously at his thumb nail, looking toward the pizza box.

"Dude, take a slice, you look like you're gonna pass out." Dean handed the box to Baron, watching carefully as he took a slice, taking a few bites.

"Alright, so we'll save the dad convo for another time, apparently. But, I do gotta ask something, that may involve him."

Baron looked over, chewing on the large chunk of pizza he had bitten off, a look of confusion furrowing his brow.

Dean rolled his eyes, letting them turn amber in the meanwhile. He pointed at his eyes, staring straight at Baron.

"When did you get this, and did you get it from him?"

Baron nearly choked on his pizza, thumping a fist against his chest. Dean quickly hopped off of the couch, heading over to where Baron was sitting, slapping on his back.

"Holy shit dude, don't die, fuck."

After taking a few large gasps of air, Baron looked over at Dean, whose eyes were still amber.

"Wait… you…?"

"You… you couldn't tell?"

"Nah dude, mom never taught me how to read for other wolves. I don't think I could if my life depended on it."

Dean blinked a few times, pulling back slightly. "Wait… mom?"

"Yeah man, mom's a wolf. It's been in her family since  _forever_ , but she always kept away from the other ones, so she never thought it was something I needed to know. She figured if I wasn't looking for them, I wouldn't draw any more attention to myself than I already was."

Dean raised an eyebrow. "Because being seven foot tall and covered in tattoos isn't drawing any attention?"

"Yeah, no shit, right? Moms… oh. Right." Baron winced, and Dean froze slightly, forgetting that in the tracing for his information, he'd have to have found out.

"Don't worry about it. It's good you brought that up, because that's how I got turned, actually. My mother, uh… let's just say she was a  _popular_  lady in Cincy. I was 16 or so, maybe just about to turn 17, and there's this dude in the apartment, yelling at my mom. Long story short, I go to yell at them to both shut the fuck up and get it over with, next thing I know there's this giant fucking wolf leaping at my mom ready to kill her. I jump in the way, he grabs me in the neck and shoulder, I'm pretty much bleeding to death, and then he got my mom. Ripped her goddamn insides out."

"Oh my fucking god, man. Like, I knew she died, from what documents I could find and shit, but like… damn.  _Damn_ , dude, I'm so sorry."

"Eh, it's been so far gone now that it's whatever at this point. But they didn't know how I survived, but here I am, with a neat lil' party trick once the full moon shows up, and whenever I feel like it, to be honest."

Baron nodded, looking down at his half-eaten slice. He stood up, tossing it in the trash. He turned around, eyes gone amber as well.

"Man, you don't know how nice it is to be able to not hide this shit around someone. And like, maybe, once we're like… more cool, or whatever, we can…"

"Go for runs? I'd have to clear it with the pack, but…"

"There's a  _PACK?!"_

Dean couldn't help but laugh at Baron's shock, shaking his head.

"Good lord, your ma really taught you shit, huh. What the fuck did you think all those howls have been, man, wild coyotes or some shit?"

Baron shrugged, and Dean wanted so desperately to hide his face in his hands.

"When you showed up at the house, you stumbled on pack land, man. You had a whole lotta pissed off wolves staring you down."

Baron chewed on his bottom lip.

"So… when Kris said I was interrupting?"

Dean grimaced slightly, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"We'll uh… we'll save that for another time. Just, suffice it to say that Kris  _isn't_  one of us, but she's uh… damn close."

The realization sprung on Baron instantly.

"Oh, fuck, man, she's your  _mate_ , dude I'm so sorry if it looked like I was encroaching or whatever." He held his hands up, looking over to the bike, whispering out " _fuck_ " before turning back.

"Not gonna lie dude, for a minute, I was real close to wringing your neck, but I trust Kris, and you already knew that her and I were together, so you wouldn't have been ballsy enough to admit to making her a goddamn present in front of me if you were gonna try and steal her. Relax. You ain't  _that_  much of a dumb shit, even if you  _did_  randomly drive onto pack territory with no realization you did so."

Baron huffed out a laugh, dropping his hands. "Alright, yeah, gotta admit. That  _is_  a dumb shit move. But hey, enough serious talk, let's celebrate. New friendships, and to being wolves, and to that delicious fucking pizza oh my  _fucking god_  what place makes this?"

Dean chuckled, shaking his head, grabbing his beer and an unopened one for Baron, tossing it gently to him.

"I ain't gonna tell you  _all_  my secrets on the first night, bro." Dean smiled at Baron, and while Baron knew it wasn't Dean accepting the potential of them being blood related, it was an opening for friendship, which he'd accept.

* * *

Once the pizza was devoured, beers were drunk, and they took the time to sober up, Dean walked out to his car, spinning the keyring on his finger. He pulled the jacket in closer on himself, glad that the town was tiny enough that he could get home relatively quickly.

"Well, hey man, thanks for sharing in the beer and the pizza. We'll have to do this again sometime soon, so we can get on the same page."

Baron nodded from the door of the shop, locking it behind him as he went to his bike, having pulled it out of the garage minutes before. "Absolutely. And uh, thanks again for being willing to talk. Tell Kris I said thank you, too."

Dean gulped, smiling as best as he could. "Yeah, man, sure thing, but uh… you could always shoot her a text too, you know. I'm sure she'd rather hear it from you. Have a good night, Baron."

"Call me Bare. Everyone else does."

"Alright, Bare. Be safe. Don't hit no sand patches."

"I'm always safe."

"Mhm. Sure thing."

Dean mock saluted before closing the car door, starting up the car, watching as Baron's bike roared to life, before pulling out of the parking lot slowly. As he drove back towards the house, he looked in his rear-view mirror, seeing the taillight of the bike growing fainter in the distance.

Once he had gotten home, he sat out in the driveway once more, and decided to let the moon hold her sway, letting out a howl. It didn't speak of mourning or of fear, as it would have earlier in the day.

Rather, it spoke of family, of bond, of brotherhood.

Seth had been in the living room with the rest of the pack, and when they heard the howl, they knew that Dean was home, safe and sound.

When they heard a very faint howl in response, obviously miles away, Seth couldn't help the smile that grew on his face.

Dean couldn't help his either.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well, I've officially broken 50k on this story, and I want to thank you all for coming along on the ride with me. 
> 
> Also, I'm sorry.

Krista heard the repetitive beeping of her phone, indicating several text messages, as she lay in bed, not wanting to move away from her comfortable position. However, the screen kept flashing, and after much moaning and groaning about it, she grabbed the phone, swiping the screen to see several missed texts.

The first she read was from Dean.

- _Followed through on what you said. Called Baron. Hanging out tonight_.-

That one was from when she was driving home, so she had ignored anything with his name on it, the anger still potent in her system at the time. She raised an eyebrow at the text, shrugging it off as him saying whatever he could to get her to turn around. She wouldn't be fooled that easily, even if it did feel weird to not have him in the bed next to her after so long.

As she looked at the next text, from only an hour or two ago, she snorted in disbelief.

- _Ok, he's not that bad of a guy. Had fun. You were right.-_

She rolled her eyes, almost offended at how Dean thought she'd buy that so easily. She knew how he was; a stubborn shit who wouldn't admit he was wrong if his life depended on it. She had almost put the phone down, when she saw the text message from Baron.

- _Holy shit you work quick. Dean called.-_

Huh. There's a first time for everything. As she read through the rest of Baron's texts, she found out that he had made plans originally for Tuesday, but Dean had insisted on tonight. That they'd have pizza and beer, and that they had a long talk.

"Well, damn. Way to prove me wrong, D." She shook her head, opening up a new message on her phone, typing out to him a quick note.

- _Proud of you.-_

Within a minute, her phone beeped back.

- _Can I call?-_

She looked at the time, it reading 2:00 AM, knowing she had nowhere to be the next day.

- _Go ahead-_

She sat up a bit, not wanting to immediately answer the phone when it started ringing. After a few seconds of her ringtone had started playing, she swiped it to talk, holding the phone next to her ear.

"Hey."

_Fuck_ , his voice made her stomach twist. As much as she was angry at him, and rightfully so, that was still… She caught herself thinking the words "my mate" and closed her eyes tightly.

"Hey you. So, how was your chat with Bare?"

"He's, uh, pretty cool, actually. We were talking about his family for a bit. We didn't talk about the dad issue, because, you know, that's a heavy subject for the first meeting. He's got a thank you present for ya, so whenever you wanna get your ass back here, he wants to show it off."

"Thank you present, huh? Are you guys going to keep on talking?" She wriggled around in the sheets of the bed a bit, trying to get comfortable for the inevitable conversation she and him would have to have.

"Well, ideally? Yeah, because man, lemme tell you Kris, he needs some help. His mom told him  _shit_." Dean's laugh, usually low and raspy and that would tickle across her ears came out tinny through the phone, and it made her heart ache. She didn't like being away from him, even if it was to prove a point.

"What do you mean he needs help?"

"He's a wolf too, Kris."

"... _WHAT?_ "

"Yeah…" He couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.

"Oh my god,  _that's_  why everyone was so cold to him. And, oh my god,  _that's why you didn't want to talk to him._  Oh, oh baby…"

"Well, it's fine, because his mom was the wolf, and he's kind of a dumb shit, but it's cool. He had no clue that all of us were wolves, and when I told him, he almost choked on his pizza. Also told him about you and I… that, uh, you know. Mated…"

She could hear him trailing off, wanting to say so much but not choosing to say any of it.

"Listen, D. I don't want you to think that this is me not wanting to be with you. I just needed you to see what life would be like without me there. And, you know… maybe I acted a bit brash. I was acting with my heart and not with my head, and I'm sorry if I made you feel like I was leaving. It's just… so frustrating to see you throw away opportunities because you're not bothered to take advantage of them. You and Bare could be related, and even if you aren't, you now have  _another_  wolf to possibly have as part of the pack. You could be a mentor to him. That's  _huge_ , Dean. I just hope that, regardless of if you two are related or not, that you keep this up. Bare seemed pretty excited that you two talked, from the barrage of texts he sent me."

"Yeah, man, once you get a beer or two in him, he doesn't shut up, it was kinda funny. And, no, you did what you felt was right. I'm a dick. There's no denying that. I joke around that it's part of my charm, but, everything you said… Even Seth told me I should call Baron. So, no worries, it wasn't just you. But, I won't lie. It felt fucking terrible the minute you left. I feel like I'm missing something, like a limb or an organ or something. Just… not right."

Krista kept her mouth shut tightly, even though it felt like something in her body was trying to reach through, to scream out that it agreed, that it was here, that it was waiting for him. She finally succumbed, voice cracking with how softly she was speaking.

"I feel the same."

"You're gonna kill me."

"Why?"

Suddenly the phone line went dead, and Krista went to go redial the call, when she heard a jingling of keys and a rattling of a doorknob. As she got out of the bed, walking quickly towards the door to the hallway, she heard the distinctive clicking of a deadbolt unlocking. She stopped in the hallway as she saw the door open, Dean standing in the doorway, phone still in his hand.

"Uh. Hey. Listen, if you don't want me to be here, I'll go back to the house, but, uh… I just… I missed your skin…"

Krista wanted nothing more than to just run over to him, wrap her arms around him and never let go, but she had to prove somewhat of a point.

He stepped through the doorway, closing and locking it behind him. He put the keys in his pocket, and combed his fingers through his hair, a nervous habit of his she had noticed. He walked over slowly, slight squeaks from his boots against the tile on the floor.

"And, I can't promise that I'll stop being a stubborn shit, because that's just what I am, but I can try? I can try to stop, and I'll do my best to actually  _tell_  you the things that are wrong and what I'm feeling and-" He paused in front of her, looking down at where she stood.

Her arms were still crossed, and her face was still set as if she were angry, but eventually she rolled her eyes, letting her arms drop.

"D?"

"Yeah?"

She wrapped her arms around him, holding tightly, feeling as if something within her was worming its way out of her and wrapping around the both of them. This was unlike anything she had ever felt before, and as she snuck a hand up the back of his shirt, to rub gently at the skin of the small of his back, she let out a sigh of contentment.

"Stop talking, you ramble when you do."

"Love you too, Kris."

She looked up at him, smiling. "Come to bed, I want cuddles."

"Is that all? Kidding, kidding!" She had slapped his back when he said that, his hands moving away in surrender.

"Maybe. Maybe not. You'll have to find out. Come to bed."

Hours later, after Dean had found comfort and joy in making Krista's legs tremble with each flick of his tongue, or snap of his hips, over and over again, he lay there, stroking gently at her hair, watching her sleep. While he had never planned on becoming mated with someone the way he had, or even of accepting his more wild nature, he had stumbled across it all in a downtown bar years ago, in the shape of this woman in front of him.

He looked down at where her hand was resting, clenched onto the pillow, and part of him wanted nothing more than to just hold it, to kiss at her palm and her knuckles and just nuzzle his cheek against her skin. He was woken from his thoughts when her hand brushed against his chest.

"Hey, sleepyhead, what're you doing awake?"

He was answered by her kissing him, gentle at first, becoming more insistent as she moved to crawl on top of him.

"Jesus, again? I think you need to go back to sleep, build up some more energy first…"

She only replied with more kisses, each steadily moving more and more south on his body.

He couldn't argue with her enthusiasm, even if it was 4:30 in the morning.

* * *

The next month seemed to go by with no issue. Krista had gotten the approval from the HR department at her work to be able to handle her business from home; Baron had been coming over to the house once a week to meet with the rest of the pack, minus Sami and Jessicka who had to return home to Florida to handle some business of their own. Dean and Baron had some nice chats, shooting the shit, talking about sports, talking about music, going for runs. They never broached the subject of paternity, because neither of them knew how to bring it up. There seemed to be no point, in Dean's eyes. He considered Baron a friend, and if things kept going on well, who cared if they weren't related, he'd still be pack, and pack meant brotherhood.

They were all hanging out in the living room of the house, making plans for Thanksgiving, when Baron's phone rang. He didn't recognize the number, so he held up a finger, stepping outside into the hallway to answer. Dean was on the couch with Krista, who was curled up in his arm, texting with her mother on plans for when she'd come up for the holiday. Roman was chattering about his own plans about flying the family up for the holiday. Seth, on the other hand, was staring intently at the doorway that Baron had stepped out of.

"Everything ok?"

Seth went to speak up, but Baron walked in before Seth could get the words out.

"That was dad."

"Oh, what, Scott?"

"No. Like. Dad. He's uh… he's apparently up here."

Roman looked over at Dean, whose face seemed to blanch.

"He doesn't know that I'm with you, though. I know that you and I haven't talked about him, and I can go see him without bringing you up, no worries-"

"No."

Krista looked up at Dean, a look of confusion on her face. "Dean, what are you…"

"Fuck it, it's almost Thanksgiving, right? That's a big family holiday thing. So, fuck it. Lemme meet him. Get it all out on the table now. Might as well find out from the source, right?"

"Dean, I don't want you to feel obligated." Baron was wringing his hands, the nerves obvious on his face.

"Bare, listen. You and I have been skirting around the topic for a month. Gotta rip the bandage off sometime, you know? So, go on, call him or text him or whatever. Get his address of where he's staying. We'll go together."

Roman cleared his throat loudly. "Do you think that's a smart idea, Dean? Don't you think you guys should do it on neutral ground?"

Krista turned, placing her hand on Dean's cheek to turn his face towards her. "Ro's right, babe. You should be somewhere neutral on this. Not that I don't trust you, Bare," she peeked around Dean's body to see Baron nodding and shrugging. "But we don't know  _him_. If it gets too much for you, you know?"

Dean smiled, kissing Krista's forehead. "I'll be fine."

Seth remained quiet, watching. Roman wasn't sure if that was good or bad; a quiet Seth was a scary Seth, in his experience. He'd have to ask him later what he thought of the scenario.

* * *

Baron had agreed to meet up with his father that Sunday, allowing Dean a full day to think of what things he could say, or not say, to his potential father upon meeting him. He had so many questions, so many concerns, things he had been wanting to voice since he could recognize that his home life was not the same as everyone else's, things that had intensified after his mother's death.

But now, in the car ride to where this man who was potentially his father lived? Dean was voiceless, thoughtless, his heart pounding in his chest. This man was potentially who helped give him life, who had disappeared on him when he needed him, and he may be at the end of this driveway. He wanted to be sick.

He didn't feel like he was in control of his limbs. He went through the motions of walking in, having been welcomed by a servant, which only made him feel even more low-class than he had before. The house was a large colonial, with dark hardwood floors, large rooms with high ceilings, a good sized fireplace in the living room. Even if this man  _was_  his father, would he want some street scum from Cincinnati in his life? Was that why he had left in the first place?

"Hey, dad?" Baron yelled up the stairs, while Dean kept his hands firmly in his pockets, wanting to shrink in on himself. Maybe everyone was right; maybe he should have done this somewhere where he didn't feel out of place. It was too late to leave, when he saw Baron wave at him to follow him up the stairs. He hadn't even heard anyone shout down, he had been so lost in his thoughts.

As he climbed the stairs, he looked at the walls, which were covered in paintings, one of which appeared to be a family crest for a surname of Sterling.

"Sterling, huh?" Dean shrugged, before reaching the landing for the second floor.

Baron knocked on the frame for the doorway that was opened slightly, a low glow creeping out from around the corner.

"Dad?"

"Oh, yes, Baron, please, do come in. Sorry, I'm desperately looking for something right now, or else I would have met you downstairs." The figure was in a darkened corner, poking around at a shelf, lit only by the moonlight streaming in from the window.

"Oh, no worries. I, uh. Have someone with me. Figured you might want to meet him. I know he's interested in meeting you."

"Oh?"

"It's, uh… Dean. Dean Ambrose."

Suddenly, it was if the energy in the room had changed. The man had suddenly looked out at the window, the light still not illuminating enough of his features for Dean to get any view of. Baron had started to shrink back, something that Dean had noticed immediately. What had his name being said done to make Baron flinch like that?

"I have to thank you, Baron. You've been such a good son, helping me to find your brother, even when you didn't intend on it. Maybe we can all learn from each other, and truly become a family."

Dean bristled at the voice. It sounded old, and weary, and heavy with bourbon and smoke, but some part of him knew it, deep down in his bones, something in him reverberated with the sound. He didn't know how or why.

"Do you want me to leave you two alone, dad?" Baron's voice cracked, and the nervous clearing of his throat before he spoke indicated that he wasn't quite sure if it was a good idea to stay. The goosebumps on Dean's arm rose before he could even feel the shudder course through his body. Something was wrong here. Something was  _very_  wrong here, and Dean wanted to do nothing more than just leave and never return. Maybe there was a reason his dad was never a part of his life. Maybe seeing how Baron's entire demeanor changed was a hint that things would only end up worse if he stayed.

"I think that might be best, Bare. I feel like Dean and I need some time to catch up. I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to talk to your brother afterwards, won't he, Dean?"

Dean nodded, trying desperately to place a face and a name to the voice he heard, wanting even more desperately to turn on the light in the room. He'd lived this mystery long enough, if this man standing in front of him, face turned away towards the window, staring out at the moon, was his father, he'd want to know immediately.

"Yeah, yeah I'm sure Baron and I will, uh, catch up later." Dean was distracted, but didn't want to make him feel any more awkward than he probably already did. From what he could recall of their first conversation, Baron had said something about how his dad wouldn't shut up about him. Here he was, being pushed out of the room, so Dean and this stranger could chat. The uneasiness in Dean's stomach tightened.

Baron nodded quietly, and walked out, closing the door behind him with a quiet click. With it, Dean felt almost claustrophobic. Here was the man who had been missing from his life for close to 30 years, standing in front of him with such ease, as if they had only been apart for weeks, maybe months.

"I'm glad that Baron found you Dean. I'm so glad to have my sons together under one roof, finally." He turned from the window, finally, looking over at Dean, a grin forming lazily. "Or, should I use your birth name,  _Jonathan?_ "

Dean stood there, unmoving, the blood draining from his face, pulse thumping wildly in his ears and throat. He knew why he knew the voice. It was older, the voice sounded different when it was fully human.

But standing in front of him was the man who attacked his mother that night when he was 16 years old.

The man who murdered his mother, and nearly murdered him.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Ok, so I'm so sorry this took forever to update! Real life has been a pain in the ass, between school and work and being sick and the Snowpocalypse that has wrecked the Northeast! This is the season finale of the second arc! We're almost there, kids! Please read, review, recommend, you know the way to this author's heart :)

"You look like you've seen a ghost, Jon."

In some manner, he had. The man who stood before him, similar in height and build, light brown hair that was greying at the temples brushed back away from his high forehead, peered at him with eyes that despite their light hue, were dark with knowing. His face had grown tired with age, lines at the corners of his eyes and in between his brows, his thin mouth quirked up at a corner, but beneath the veneer of time, was the monster of his past.

Dean remained standing, his hands slowly forming into fists, the only sounds replaying in his head were the screams of his mother, the sound of the wolf, of  _him_ , tearing into his mother's flesh, of her voice dying out into a gurgle of blood, the growls of the wolf, and then nothing but sirens and yelling.

"Please, Jon, sit down."

"My name is Dean." His throat felt tight, his jaw would not unhinge entirely, the words forced out through snaggled teeth.

"Oh, yes, you  _did_  change it, I should respect that, now shouldn't I?" The man tutted, brushing off the front of his sweater, as if it were a casual conversation.

"What the  _fuck_  do you want?" Dean's pulse was quickening, the fight-or-flight causing his muscles to tighten, his body doing all it could to not shake from the urge to shift right there, to run, to retaliate, to do  _something._

"Sit down, and I'll explain it all to you. I promise you I will not harm a hair on your head, it would be terrible of me to harm you while you're a guest of mine. I do have  _some_  morals."

Dean scoffed, before crossing his arms. "If you don't mind, I'd like to stay standing."

"Suit yourself." He moved from the window in full, choosing to sit on one of the couches in the room. Dean took the second to look around the room, and found nothing that would denote that a psychopathic murderous werewolf lived there. In fact, it seemed like any of the other colonial houses of New England: painted in warm and neutral tones, with darkened wood features, large windows opening to the expanse of woods that permeated the mountains. Nothing seemed off at all.

"I suppose I need no introduction, you obviously know who I am already, but I'll refresh your memory. I'm Michael, or Mike, as I'm sure you remember your mother Sarah used to call me." Michael crossed his legs, taking a moment to look at his nails, before looking over at Dean, expectantly.

At hearing his mother's name after all of these years, especially from the man who  _murdered_  her, Dean bristled, before snapping. "You have no fucking  _right_  to even say her name."

"And you have every right to be angry with me, Dean. If I were young and in the same predicament you had found yourself in, I would have been angry too. But, before you go and rip my throat out, I can sense you want to, you're nearly  _shaking_  with it, I just want to tell you about your family.  _Both sides_  of it.

"I don't know too much about our family on a personal level, all I know is that they come from the  _Schwarzwald_ , the Black Forest, in southwestern Germany. From what little information I could trace, it appears our family goes back centuries, and as we are a hereditary line of werewolves, I could hazard a guess that we descend from the  _Úlfhednar_ , the wolf-skin wearing Viking warriors, akin to the berserker. We do have quite the Nordic build about us, but that's neither here nor there. What is important is that your heritage is that of a long line of wolfmen. A heritage you should have been made aware of earlier.

"Your mother, Sarah, while she had her personal problems, picked a career that, while it may have been frowned upon in our society still influenced by Puritanical belief and strengthened by Cold War conservatism, was a job once considered  _holy._  The prostitute was sacred to many a deity in antiquity, and they were treated with respect, some treated even better than the wives of the very men that were their customers. They kept an order to the basic animal urges of man, in order for them to live a more dignified life. She kept me balanced, so to speak. I  _adored_  her, even if she considered me nothing more than a client.

"Your mother thought it would be wise to not make your paternity known, for whatever reasons she justified to herself. Perhaps she figured it would be easy to hide, considering her profession, but I could sense it. And when I approached her about it, she refused to abort you. I will be overwhelmingly frank with you: I did not want children at the time, if ever. I viewed myself as an alpha, a dominant, and could not imagine there being anyone else to ever take my throne, so to speak.

"She refused, and yet I couldn't dare to keep away from her. Whether or not it was some odd sense of territory, or curiosity to see if it was passed down to you, who knows. But I saw it, truly, I saw it in you on that night 12 years ago. I had come to your mother to get an answer, yet again, and when you came in, I saw  _it_  in you. I saw the wolf. You may not have known, hell you hadn't even shifted yet probably, it usually springs on with puberty's later stages, but I saw it in the way you lunged for me, and I knew, selfishly, that in order for my silly little reign as Cincinnati's Alpha to maintain, I'd have to eliminate you, and any future whelps.

"I tried to take you out first, before focusing on the unborn risk within her. It's a testament to your strength that you survived. Truly, your heritage helped you that night."

Dean had moved to sit down on the edge of the nearest chair near him, feeling his head spin. This man was actually trying to convince him that he was his father. This man  _watched him grow, planning to take him out._  This man…

"What do you mean, unborn risk?"

"Oh… Sarah never told you?" Michael tutted, brushing off the arm of the couch. "You would have had a brother or sister, who may have also carried our, ah,  _affliction_. Your mother hadn't quite figured out that it carried via genetics, and that even if that child wouldn't have been mine, she carried the pathogen within her now. She had birthed one child with lycanthropy, all future children, regardless of paternity, would be a risk."

He wanted to be sick. He could feel the air growing thick around him, his face growing warm, his palms clammy. The man who nearly murdered him, the man who murdered his mother, and  _apparently_  a baby brother or sister, was sitting in front of him, as if nothing so traumatizing had occurred by his hands. He wanted to beat him within an inch of his life, to leave him bleeding out on the floor like he had left his mother, like he had left  _him_.  _Why now?_

"Why now. Why after all this time do you want to meet me? And, besides, you're a little far from Cincinnati now. What's the matter, someone else run you out of town?"

Michael looked over to where Dean was sitting, seeing how pale his face had gotten. "At least sit down properly, you look like you're going to faint."

"Well, excuse me, I didn't anticipate meeting the man who murdered my fucking mother and changed me and have him tell me he's my father and that, oh, by the way, you weren't changed, you're a fucking hereditary. Not, y'know, what I anticipated when Baron said you were in town. Wait… Baron…" Dean slumped his form down into the chair, gripping tightly onto the armrests, doing what he could to keep his aggression at bay. Now was not the time. He'd do what he could at a later point.

"Baron has no idea. I'm trying to do  _right_  by my sons now."

Dean couldn't help but make a scoffing noise at that. "Really now. Well, goddamn, how many more do you got?"

"Just you two."

"Lemme guess, you murdered the rest of them. Who needs abortion clinics, just have a fucked up werewolf for a lover, that'll make sure you don't ever have kids."

Michael huffed out a laugh, shaking his head. "I deserved that."

Dean's voice had grown low, reaching octaves not usually used in common conversation. "You deserve a hell of a lot more than just that, I just don't feel right killing you in your own home. You don't deserve to die in comfort."

Michael looked over at Dean, who was stonefaced, his hand clenching tightly against the armrest, and noted that it seemed as if the nails on Dean's hand had grown just a  _tad_  longer…

"If you have no intentions of murdering me where I sit, I'd suggest you draw those claws back in, boy. You're going to ruin the upholstery."

"I'd suggest you not call me 'boy' like that if you have any intention of making me believe, for a minute, that you are not only my father, but that you give a shit about me."

Michael shifted on the couch, moving from having had his legs crossed, to both feet planted firmly on the ground, his upper body leaning over, directing full attention towards Dean's form. His blue-grey eyes glowed momentarily, before turning the amber of the wolf, and deep down inside, Dean felt nauseous, wondering if his eyes were the same as those.

"I have no intention of forcing you to believe something you don't want to, even if it's true. Because, either way, I'm your father, Dean. You may not want to admit it, no, but either you are my child through procreation, and that this blood flows in those veins of yours, or you are my child through creation, and it was my bite that made you what you are. Whichever way the coin lands, Dean, you are  _my_  child, whether you like it or not. You wouldn't  _exist_  without me, and if it weren't for your mother, you also wouldn't be  _living_. Consider  _that_ , will you? If I wanted you dead  _that_  badly, don't you think I would have made a third valiant effort?"

Michael reached into the pocket of his jacket, pulling out a thin cigarette case, placing one between his lips before pocketing the closed case. A quick flick of the lighter he had pulled out afterwards, and with a deep inhale of the smoke, he sighed out a puff.

"So. With all that said. Get your fucking claws out of the upholstery, your grandmother spent a  _lot_  of money redoing that."

He took another deep drag of the cigarette, looking over to Dean, noticing that his hands had moved away from the arms of the chair, crossing instead over his middle.

"Good. And, oh, how rude of me, did you want a smoke?"

"Nah, I'll pass, thanks. I'd actually like to go home, unless you plan on keeping me here for a while."

"No, no, I think we've talked  _long enough_ , first meetings are always so intense and emotional. We have plenty of time to get to know each other and form a bond, don't you think?"

Dean quickly pushed himself up from the chair, heading towards the door.

"Would you like me to walk you out?" Michael made no effort to rise from the couch, his question merely a formality.

"I'm good."

A dark chuckle. "I'm sure you are. Oh, and please, Dean, I must insist. Please, keep an open mind. I am quite positive there are  _so_  many things we can learn from one another. After all, I  _did_  make you what you are, it's only right that I teach you some things."

"I think you've taught me enough,  _Dad._ " Despite it being said in mocking, just the word tasted wrong on his tongue, bile twinging at the back of his mouth at the thought.

Michael's voice lowered again, his eyes narrowing, turning to face Dean. "You have no idea what little you know,  _son_."


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: We're not gonna talk about how long this took me to write. Or how it's a shorter chapter than usual. Just... I had to drag myself out of a rut. Had some bad life things happen. We're ok now, I'm getting better, we'll be ok, here's some more wolfboys. I love you all and I'm sorry.

To say that the drive back to what Baron called "the compound" was silent would be an understatement. He'd safely assumed that things had gone worse than expected between Dean and his father, with how briskly Dean had made his way down the stairs and sharply turned, nearly knocking over a table and the vase of Russian Sage that had been placed upon it mere moments prior. When he was given only a growled out answer of "Leaving. Now.", Baron had simply nodded, grabbing his keys and placing his cup down on the table, knowing better than to stammer out anything that wasn't in agreement.

Now, the car ride was deathly quiet, the radio having been shut off immediately after Baron had placed it on, hoping to maybe calm the hostile thickness of the air between them. Instead, the near lightning speed in which Dean's hand had shot out to press the volume button in, effectively cutting any modicum of communication off, made Baron shrink slightly in his seat, his foot pressing harder against the gas pedal, in order to bring Dean back home.

The rumble beneath the tires of the truck as they drove up to the house were deafening to Dean's ears. His brain was running a mile a minute, his blood pressure raised as he did his best to not unfasten his seatbelt and launch himself out of the truck, the claustrophobia of everything getting to him. He'd need to run later, he'd need to hide deep in the woods for days if he had to, wanted to shed skin and find somewhere to just Be. No humanity, no emotions, just he and the wolf and nothing more.

The pausing of the car woke him out of his thoughts, as he looked around to see that the house was in front of him, and Baron was staring at him, concern and hesitation marking his expression. Without another word, Dean undid the seatbelt, and quickly got out of the truck, nearly barreling his way into the house, slamming the screen door shut so hard behind him that it bounced back open.

His fevered movements through the house had caught Seth's attention, and as he moved to head after him, the screen door creaked open once more, a nervous Baron stepping inside, unsure of if his presence was welcome. Before he could speak up, Roman's cleared his throat, having remained silent at the initial explosion that was Dean making his way inside.

"Take it things didn't go well?"

His voice was trained to sound calm and collected, but the heat behind his eyes, a flicker of gold stuttering before returning to their grey, stated it all. Eyes still focused on Baron, Roman slowly brought a coffee mug to his mouth, the subtle power seeping out around him of this is my pack, I am its leader, and what the fuck have you done to my brother. Placing the mug back down on the table, Roman only raised an eyebrow, before pushing himself away from the table slowly, appearing as if he was going to stand up.

"I'm guessing not, man. I dunno, he just sorta ran down the stairs, nearly knocked half of dad's shit off the table, said we gotta go, and well, I ain't gonna argue. I may technically be the big brother here but, nah, not gonna fuck with that."

The heavily-tattooed man's forehead wrinkled with confusion, trying to think as to if anything had seemed off.

"I mean, like, when I introduced him, looked like he'd seen a goddamn ghost, but I mean, I kinda thought the same, y'know? Sorta overwhelming to meet the man that fathered you? Just… outta the blue, when this entire time you've never known. So I didn't think anything of it. But hey, uh, I'm thinking that my presence ain't exactly gonna be welcomed here, so, I'll slip on out, you guys do whatever it is you guys do -"

As his pack, as his brothers, Baron thought, not wanting to speak it aloud, knowing that while he may be genetically linked to Dean, he hadn't formed that strong of a brothership yet, not fully, not the same type of bond that his pack had, nor was he pack. This was their territory, he was merely a guest, and he knew when to tuck tail and run.

"-and if Dean needs to talk, he can find me, on his own time, when he's ready. I'm… I thought I was doing the right thing by having them meet, Roman."

The look of confusion and some modicum of sadness was evident on Baron's otherwise grim appearance, and with his hulking frame doing its best to curl in on itself, to appear meek - a struggle for him, as he was always a lone wolf, never showing any sort of allegiance to an alpha except for his mother, to be frank, his appearance and presence alone being enough to protect him - and Roman could feel his desire to be angry and judgmental at this still-somewhat stranger start to dissipate the longer he stared at him. Having gotten up from his seat in the time Baron was speaking,he combed the loose strands of his hair back away from his face, the rest curled into a loose bun at the nape of his neck.

"You didn't know, man. People react to shit differently, and uh, think uce just ain't good with the whole dealing with his emotions and shit thing. I'd say give him the night, let him sleep on shit, and maybe Seth, Sami, Kris and I can pry it outta him, alright?"

Walking over towards where the older - Jesus he was even older than him, how did he know so little about pack dynamics as a hereditary? - man was, Roman could only clap a hand to his shoulder, the creaking worn leather of the jacket the tattooed man wore giving way to Roman's firm grasp.

"I'd say maybe save any family revelations or reunions for a more public setting, yeah? Think if you spring any more shit on him, he's gonna have a heart attack or bail entirely."

Seth, in the meanwhile, was leaning against a closed door, not an unfamiliar situation when it came to Dean and his emotions. Up until Krista's presence in his life, he had been… emotionally stunted, to put it calmly, but Seth was a calming balm to the otherwise hot headed nature of the pack. It was quiet from what he could sense of the darkened room, and as he closed his eyes once more, attempting to find some way to let Dean know that he was there, he instead felt the silent buzzing of a phone in his pocket. Two texts, one from Roman and one from Sami.

-  _What's wrong with Dean?_ -

and

-  _Let him and Kris have some time, man. He'll talk when he wants to._ -

Huffing a laugh to himself at the very thought that even back down in Florida with Jess, Sami could sense the disruption to the already tenuous at best emotional balance of the pack, he quickly tapped out a reply that the meeting with Dean's dad apparently hadn't gone well, and that he'd report back if h heard more. The text reply to Roman was a simple 'understood,' and pushing himself up from the ground, Seth gave one last glance back to the closed door, before heading towards his own room, an itch at the back of his neck that he was uncomfortable with.

Unbeknownst to him, it was due to the room being empty.

* * *

Krista wasn't sure how she was managing to keep up as much as she could; she hadn't really been one for athletics during her time in school, and considering how she now had a quicker drain of energy, she was surprised she could even stay upright, given how much of a wreck Dean had been when he had stormed into the room, nearly snatching her out of the bed as he grabbed at her hand. She hadn't questioned it, knowing that he had went to meet his father earlier that day, and given his poor mood, she figured it went terrible.

Yet here she was, running, the sun having already almost set entirely, the sky an eerie dark blue as she felt her heart in her throat, breathing sharp and near painful and yet her legs couldn't stop their movements. Nearly a mile ahead of her was Dean, or, rather, the wolf, nothing more than a blur of golden-brown fur through darkened trees and the sound of crunching leaves, crickets, and the flicker of fireflies.

As moths whizzed by her head, fallen branches nothing more than hurdles for her to leap over, something deep within her felt itself become strengthened, as if the very essence of the woods was echoing within her bones, seeping down her arms and legs to spark flames in the back of her mind. She may have been born in a concrete jungle, but the Northeastern woods was where she lived now.

Skidding to a halt at the sound of a howl, she slowly made her way to where she was finding Dean changing back, the shift no longer a gruesome sight to her. The exhaustion of it all not hitting her body just yet, her hand reached out to rest at his shoulder, his skin warm and sweaty from the exertion of everything. Instead, his arms reached out, wrapping around her waist, his head resting against the front of her thighs as he let out a shaky breath, his grip on her tight, still unaware of his strength.

"Not gonna let anything hurt you."

The words were soft, his voice still roughened from his healing vocal cords, the guttural animalistic tone evident with each word he managed to muster forth.

"Babe, nothing's going to hurt me, what's wrong."

She tried to console him, but she wasn't sure what it was she was trying to console him for. He'd said nothing, and even now, with the way he looked up at her, down on his knees in the fallen leaves, eyes golden behind loose curls, she knew she wouldn't get an answer. He'd tell her when he was ready; he was telling her enough right now that whoever it was he had met, it had downright scared him.

"Won't let him hurt you. You're mine. He can't take you from me."

Before she can focus on his words, she felt the waist of her leggings being tugged at by his hands, and all he could keep repeating was 'you're mine.' She wasn't arguing with him by any means. Instead, she nervously placed a hand in his hair, fingers barely grazing against the skin of his scalp when she was greeted with cool autumn air, and then the warm wetness of a mouth against her, her legs nearly going weak.

"I'm yours." She whispered out into the darkness, fingers clenching tighter into his hair.


End file.
